A major issue here is where God’s direct speech ends. (This is crucial particularly in languages in which direct speech is not simply ended with closing quotation marks but with the verb of speaking.) The grammatical structure of verse 5 in Hebrew, including its use of the second person plural pronoun in verse 5 (you), clearly indicates that God’s direct speech continues at least until the end of verse 15 (so Revised Standard Version) or even to the end of verse 16 (so New Living Translation [New Living Translation]). So God does not only give the general instructions in verses 2-4; he also specifically instructs who are to be selected to assist Moses and Aaron in verses 5-15. So Revised Standard Version is more in line with the Hebrew text here than Good News Translation in which God’s direct speech already ends after verse 4. The unfortunate result in Good News Translation is that verses 5-16 have become narrative text. Even more seriously, in Good News Translation the specific selection of tribal leaders now appears to have been only a decision matter for the community itself and not for God! As part of its restructuring, Good News Translation has put the concluding summary found in verse 16 before verse 5. We do not recommend handling these verses in this way.

And these are the names of the men who shall attend you introduces the actual list of tribal leaders in verses 5b-15. Who shall attend you is literally “who will stand with you,” which means they will assist Moses and Aaron.

From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur: Elizur is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Reuben. Reuben was the first son of Jacob and Leah (see Gen 29.32; 35.23). Elizur is mentioned again in 2.10; 7.30, 35; and 10.18.

From Simeon, Shelumi-el the son of Zurishaddai: Shelumi-el is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Simeon. Simeon was the second son of Jacob and Leah (see Gen; 29.33; 35.23). Shelumi-el is mentioned again in 2.12; 7.36, 41; and 10.19. There is no need for the hyphen in this name in a translation.

From Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab: Nahshon is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Judah. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah (see Gen 29.35; 35.23). Nahshon is mentioned again in 2.3; 7.12, 17; and 10.14 (see also Ruth 4.20; 2 Chr 2.10-11; Matt 1.4; Luke 3.32).

From Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar: Nethanel is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Issachar. Issachar was the fifth son of Jacob and Leah (see Gen 30.18; 35.23). Nethanel is mentioned again in 2.5; 7.18, 23; and 10.15.

From Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon: Eliab is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Zebulun. Zebulun was the sixth son of Jacob and Leah (see Gen 30.19-20; 35.23). Eliab is mentioned again in 2.7; 7.24, 29; and 10.16.

From the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur: The two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are almost put together. The simple list of Good News Translation has wrongly omitted this important connection between Ephraim and Manasseh. Joseph was the older son of Jacob and Rachel (see Gen 30.22-24; 35.24). Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s sons (see Gen 41.50-52). These two sons of Joseph are included according to God’s promise (see Gen 49.22-26; Deut 33.13-17). The traditional number of twelve tribes is retained in this way, in view of the exclusion of the tribe of Levi from the census. Elishama is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Ephraim. He is mentioned again in 2.18; 7.48, 53; and 10.22 (see also 1 Chr 7.26). Gamaliel is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Manasseh. He is mentioned again in 2.20; 7.54, 59; and 10.23.

From Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni: Abidan is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the younger son of Jacob and Rachel (see Gen 35.16-18, 24). Abidan is mentioned again in 2.22; 7.60, 65; and 10.24.

From Dan, Ahi-ezer the son of Ammishaddai: Ahi-ezer is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Dan. Dan was the older son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel’s servant (see Gen 30.3-6; 35.25). Ahi-ezer is mentioned again in 2.25; 7.66, 71; and 10.25.

From Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran: Pagiel is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Asher. Asher was the younger son of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah’s servant (see Gen 30.12-13; 35.26). Pagiel is mentioned again in 2.27; 7.72, 77; and 10.26.

From Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel: Eliasaph is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Gad. Gad was the older son of Jacob and Zilpah (see Gen 30.9-11; 35.26). Eliasaph is mentioned again in 2.14; 7.42, 47; and 10.20. The name Deuel is spelled “Reuel” in 2.14 (see the comments there).

From Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan: Ahira is chosen as the leader from the tribe of Naphtali. Naphtali was the younger son of Jacob and Bilhah (see Gen 30.7-8; 35.25). Ahira is mentioned again in 2.29; 7.78, 83; and 10.27.

It is evident in the above comments that the names of these leaders are found also in chapters 2, 7 and 10, so translators will need to make a note of that fact and render them consistently.

These were the ones chosen from the congregation …: The Hebrew has no past tense verb here, so other possible renderings are “These are the ones chosen…” (similarly New Living Translation) and “These are the ones called…” (Buber, Luther; similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Russian Synodal Orthodox Version). If present tense is used here, it is possible to include even verse 16 in God’s direct speech (so New Living Translation, Bijbel in Gewone Taal, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). But a disadvantage of including verse 16 in the direct speech is that it makes God say things to Moses and Aaron which presumably they know already. So verse 16 is better understood as a concluding statement by the author/editor of this part of the book (as suggested also by the Hebrew syntactic structure, in which the sentence begins with the demonstrative pronoun meaning “these” and ends with a seemingly redundant pronoun meaning “they”).

Who chose these leaders? The Hebrew form rendered the ones chosen does not express this and, if possible, the agent should be left implied. But this may not be possible in the translation. If so, translators may express God as the one who chose them, or Moses and Aaron, who carried out God’s instructions. Bijbel in Gewone Taal, which makes verse 16 part of God’s direct speech, begins this verse with “It is they whom I have chosen….” But since verse 16 is not part of God’s direct speech, a better model is “These are the ones whom God [or, Moses and Aaron] chose….”

For the Hebrew word rendered congregation (ʿedah), see the comments on verse 2. Translators should render it in the same way here.

The leaders of their ancestral tribes: The Hebrew word for leaders is nasiʾ. This word refers to a prominent and distinguished leader, for example, a much respected sheikh of a tribe; thus leaders (so also Good News Translation) seems a rather flat translation. A better rendering in English is “chiefs” (Revised English Bible) or “chieftains” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In verse 4 these men are referred to as heads of their ancestral houses, but here they are even referred to as chiefs of their ancestral tribes. The difference may be due to the selection of these men for their special representative task. In any case, the difference in terminology should be maintained in translation.

The heads of the clans of Israel is literally “heads of thousands of Israel.” This Hebrew word for “thousands” is not a kinship term, but refers here to divisions in a tribe, more specifically, to military units.

Although Revised Standard Version translates the leaders and the heads, there is nothing in the Hebrew construction here that necessarily corresponds with these two occurrences of the definite article the. So a more accurate translation of verse 16 is “These are the ones chosen from the community, chiefs of their ancestral tribes, heads of divisions in Israel.” It is not certain that these men were the only chiefs and heads of this kind in Israel’s military organization.

In verse 4 Revised Standard Version makes it explicit that these men were already family heads before they were chosen to help Moses and Aaron. So verse 16 does not imply that they were selected to become family chiefs at this point. They were selected to be heads of divisions. Good News Translation makes this clear by beginning verses 5-16 with “These are the men, [already] leaders within their tribes, who were chosen from the community for this work.”

Possible models for verse 16 are:

• These men, chiefs of their ancestral tribes, are the ones chosen from the community; they are heads of divisions in Israel.

• These men, chiefs of their ancestral tribes, are [were] the ones chosen from the community to be heads of divisions in Israel.

Even though translators are encouraged to close God’s direct speech at the end of verse 15, Good News Translation‘s list layout for verses 5b-15 is still recommended as fitting the context of a census. Translations that keep the list layout, but close the direct speech as the end of verse 15, are New International Version, the Contemporary English Version, and the NET Bible. In these translations verse 16 is no longer direct speech and so it is formatted differently from the list.

“Clan chief” is one of the headings in the list layout of Good News Translation. As explained in the comments on verse 4, “Family chief” would be more accurate than “Clan chief.” The list layout in the French common language version (Bible en français courant) is without headings, but every line in the list in Bible en français courant begins with “the tribe of…” to serve as a generic marker of the specific names that follow.

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