The LORD said to Moses: See the comments on 1.1. Here this common quote frame is used to introduce God’s instructions to Moses in verse 2 to select a leader from each tribe to spy out the promised land of Canaan. This verse begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”), but both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation omit it to indicate the beginning of a new discourse unit here. In some languages it may be more natural to begin this verse with “One day” or “After this.”

Send men to spy out the land of Canaan: The Hebrew imperative verb rendered Send (literally “Send for yourself”) is singular, but the verb for spy out is plural. It is the men who should spy out the land, but Moses has to select and send them. Good News Translation makes this clear by saying “Choose … and send them as spies to explore the land of Canaan.” The Hebrew verb translated spy out means “seek out, reconnoiter, explore, search through, check out.” A verb should not be chosen that has negative connotations in the target language. There should be no suggestion that Moses sent these men to do something illegal or immoral. Instead of spy out, the verb “explore” (Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation) or “scout” may be more appropriate. The land of Canaan is the land that God first promised to give to Israel’s ancestors (see, for example, Gen 17.8). The area called Canaan is roughly equivalent to modern Israel (including the occupied Arab territories) and Lebanon.

Which I give to the people of Israel: In this context the Hebrew participle rendered give can be given a future interpretation, so Revised English Bible renders this clause as “which I am going to give to the Israelites.” “Which I am giving to the Israelites” in Good News Translation can be understood in the same way in English, but not necessarily other languages, which may require a definite future reference. However, some interpreters believe this participle expresses a definite certainty, a fact that is already complete, so another possible rendering is “which I have given to the Israelites” (compare Deut 1.20).

From each tribe of their fathers shall you send a man: For the Hebrew word rendered tribe (matteh), see the comments on 1.4. Good News Translation renders from each tribe of their fathers as “from each of the twelve tribes” to clarify how many spies are to be chosen. New Living Translation is better with “from each of the twelve ancestral tribes” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), since this rendering keeps the idea of fathers (see the comments on 1.2). Shall you send renders a plural Hebrew verb, which indicates that in the end the entire Israelite community had to commission the spies.

Every one a leader among them: As in 1.16 (see the comments there), the Hebrew word for leader is nasiʾ, which refers to a prominent and distinguished leader, for example, a much respected sheikh of a tribe; thus leader seems a rather flat translation. A better rendering in English is “chief” or “chieftain” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Alter).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .