And Moab said to the elders of Midian: As in verse 3, Moab refers to the people of Moab (or more precisely, their leaders), not the land, so Good News Bible says “The Moabites.” The elders of Midian refers to those Midianites who were recognized for both their maturity and their ability to function as leaders, not necessarily because of the number of years they had lived. For elders see 11.16; for Midian see 10.29. Perhaps there was an attempt to forge a coalition between Moab and (part of) Midian to jointly oppose Israel.

This horde will now lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field: The renderings This horde and “That bunch of Israelites” (Contemporary English Version) have quite a negative connotation, for which there is no support in the text. In fact, such renderings may give the wrong suggestion that the Moabites look down on the Israelites. In fact, they feel threatened by the sheer size and reputation of the people of Israel. A better model here is “This multitude” (Bible en français courant), since the Hebrew word for horde (qahal) is used elsewhere in Numbers to refer to the “assembly” or “gathering” of the Israelites (see the comments on 10.7). It should be clear in the translation that this expression refers to the people of Israel here. A model that does this is “That crowd of Israelites.” The Moabites compare the Israelites to cattle here. The Hebrew word for ox is shor, which refers to individual cattle (see 7.3), so it may also be rendered “bull” (Good News Bible) or “cow.” The more generic term “cattle” may sound more appropriate, rather than the singular word ox or “bull,” since the large number of Israelites are being compared to it. This comparison uses two forms of the Hebrew verb for lick up. The first time it has a figurative sense, which Good News Bible makes explicit by saying “destroy.” The second time it has a concrete sense with grass as its object, which is a natural expression in Hebrew for how cattle eat grass, but not in English and many other languages, so Good News Bible uses the verb “eating.” With this comparison the Moabites are implying that the Israelites will destroy everything and that nothing will be left like cattle eating grass. Translators should try to find a verb that can be used in both halves of the comparison. Some languages have a specific verb to refer to cattle eating grass, which will be good to use as long as it sounds natural in the first part of the comparison, with the Israelites as the subject. In English verbs that can be used in both halves of this comparison are “devour” (New Living Translation), “eat up” (Revised English Bible) and “eat bare.”

So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers …: As noted in the comments on verse 2, this is the first time that the Hebrew makes explicit the connection between King Balak and his country Moab. New Revised Standard Version renders the Hebrew here more literally, saying “Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers….” New Revised Standard Version is not only more accurate; it also highlights that this statement about Balak is a sentence on its own, a short clarification after the opening verses of this chapter. In many languages the natural alternative will be to include this information already in verse 2, as Good News Bible has done (see the comments there). For messengers see 20.14.

To Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor: The name Balaam is spelled Bilʿam in Hebrew. The spelling Balaam comes from the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The exact location of Pethor is uncertain, but the name corresponds with Pitru, an Assyrian city on the Euphrates River, in the most northern part of present-day Syria, over 965 kilometers (400 miles) away from Moab. Of course, Pethor is not the place from where the messengers were sent. Nor is it connected with Balaam’s father Beor. Rather, it is the place where Balaam lived. A model of this phrase that makes this clear is “to Balaam son of Beor, who was living at Pethor” (similarly Good News Bible).

Which is near the River: The Old Testament frequently refers to the well-known Euphrates River in Mesopotamia as the River. It will often be helpful to include the name of this river in the translation, for example, “the Euphrates River” (Good News Bible) or just “the Euphrates” (Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Dutch Common Language Version).

In the land of Amaw: Revised English Bible and NFB are similar with “the land of the Amawites.” This reading changes the Hebrew text, which is literally “in the land of his people.” The Hebrew words for “his people” (ʿammo) and Amaw (ʿamaw) are very similar. The Vulgate and the Peshitta read “Ammon” (ʿammon in Hebrew), probably trying to make sense of a difficult text, but the Amawites are actually known from cuneiform texts. However, translators may follow the Hebrew text here, which New Jewish Publication Society Version does with “in the land of his kinsfolk” (so also New Revised Standard Version footnote). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible is similar with “his land of origin,” and so is De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling with “in his native area.” It is not entirely clear, however, what the function of this piece of information would be in the text. The context (Pethor) does seem to call for a geographical specification of where the messengers had to go.

To call him: New Revised Standard Version says “to summon him,” and New Jewish Publication Society Version has “to invite him.” In some languages it will be more natural to put this clause earlier in the sentence, as Good News Bible has done (“to summon”). No notion of compelling should be implied in whichever verb is chosen. Balak is pleading for assistance from Balaam.

Saying introduces Balak’s message for Balaam through his messengers. NFB begins this message with “They [the messengers] had to say,” and De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling has “They had to summon him with these words.” Good News Bible says “They brought him this message from Balak,” which may wrongly suggest that the messengers had already arrived in Pethor to meet Balaam, whereas the text mentions this only in verse 7.

Behold, a people has come out of Egypt: The initial Hebrew word hinneh rendered Behold indicates the urgency of Balak’s appeal. Instead of the literal word Behold, Good News Bible conveys the call for attention here by beginning with “I want you to know….” Some languages may prefer to begin with “Please listen!” Balak was closely following Israel’s progress from Egypt; their exodus and travel toward Canaan was a matter of serious concern for all the people in the region.

They cover the face of the earth is literally “behold, it [Israel] covers the eye of the earth/land,” which means the Israelites cover the whole earth. Balak deliberately overstates the number of the Israelites in order to make his request to Balaam more urgent. Once again the Hebrew word hinneh (“behold”) is used to gain Balaam’s attention. Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible omit this word here, but King James Version keeps it by saying “Behold.” New Jewish Publication Society Version renders this clause as “it hides the earth from view,” and Chewa has “You have seen they have filled up the land.” This same exaggeration is used in Exod 10.5 and 15, in connection with the plague of locusts (see the comments on Exod 10.15 in A Handbook on Exodus).

And they are dwelling opposite me: New Revised Standard Version has “and they have settled next to me.” Balak feels that his kingdom is threatened because the Israelites have settled close to Moab. Revised English Bible renders this clause well, saying “and [they] are settling at my very door.” Chewa has “we are looking upon each other.” The singular pronoun me refers to Balak since he is the speaker. Like Chewa, Good News Bible uses a plural pronoun here, saying “and threatening to take over our land.” While it is Balak’s message, the pronoun “our” makes Balak speak on behalf of his people, and this may be a natural model to follow in some languages.

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 .

And Moab said to the elders of Midian: As in verse 3, Moab refers to the people of Moab (or more precisely, their leaders), not the land, so Good News Bible says “The Moabites.” The elders of Midian refers to those Midianites who were recognized for both their maturity and their ability to function as leaders, not necessarily because of the number of years they had lived. For elders see 11.16; for Midian see 10.29. Perhaps there was an attempt to forge a coalition between Moab and (part of) Midian to jointly oppose Israel.

This horde will now lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field: The renderings This horde and “That bunch of Israelites” (Contemporary English Version) have quite a negative connotation, for which there is no support in the text. In fact, such renderings may give the wrong suggestion that the Moabites look down on the Israelites. In fact, they feel threatened by the sheer size and reputation of the people of Israel. A better model here is “This multitude” (Bible en français courant), since the Hebrew word for horde (qahal) is used elsewhere in Numbers to refer to the “assembly” or “gathering” of the Israelites (see the comments on 10.7). It should be clear in the translation that this expression refers to the people of Israel here. A model that does this is “That crowd of Israelites.” The Moabites compare the Israelites to cattle here. The Hebrew word for ox is shor, which refers to individual cattle (see 7.3), so it may also be rendered “bull” (Good News Bible) or “cow.” The more generic term “cattle” may sound more appropriate, rather than the singular word ox or “bull,” since the large number of Israelites are being compared to it. This comparison uses two forms of the Hebrew verb for lick up. The first time it has a figurative sense, which Good News Bible makes explicit by saying “destroy.” The second time it has a concrete sense with grass as its object, which is a natural expression in Hebrew for how cattle eat grass, but not in English and many other languages, so Good News Bible uses the verb “eating.” With this comparison the Moabites are implying that the Israelites will destroy everything and that nothing will be left like cattle eating grass. Translators should try to find a verb that can be used in both halves of the comparison. Some languages have a specific verb to refer to cattle eating grass, which will be good to use as long as it sounds natural in the first part of the comparison, with the Israelites as the subject. In English verbs that can be used in both halves of this comparison are “devour” (New Living Translation), “eat up” (Revised English Bible) and “eat bare.”

So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers …: As noted in the comments on verse 2, this is the first time that the Hebrew makes explicit the connection between King Balak and his country Moab. New Revised Standard Version renders the Hebrew here more literally, saying “Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers….” New Revised Standard Version is not only more accurate; it also highlights that this statement about Balak is a sentence on its own, a short clarification after the opening verses of this chapter. In many languages the natural alternative will be to include this information already in verse 2, as Good News Bible has done (see the comments there). For messengers see 20.14.

To Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor: The name Balaam is spelled Bilʿam in Hebrew. The spelling Balaam comes from the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The exact location of Pethor is uncertain, but the name corresponds with Pitru, an Assyrian city on the Euphrates River, in the most northern part of present-day Syria, over 965 kilometers (400 miles) away from Moab. Of course, Pethor is not the place from where the messengers were sent. Nor is it connected with Balaam’s father Beor. Rather, it is the place where Balaam lived. A model of this phrase that makes this clear is “to Balaam son of Beor, who was living at Pethor” (similarly Good News Bible).

Which is near the River: The Old Testament frequently refers to the well-known Euphrates River in Mesopotamia as the River. It will often be helpful to include the name of this river in the translation, for example, “the Euphrates River” (Good News Bible) or just “the Euphrates” (Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Dutch Common Language Version).

In the land of Amaw: Revised English Bible and NFB are similar with “the land of the Amawites.” This reading changes the Hebrew text, which is literally “in the land of his people.” The Hebrew words for “his people” (ʿammo) and Amaw (ʿamaw) are very similar. The Vulgate and the Peshitta read “Ammon” (ʿammon in Hebrew), probably trying to make sense of a difficult text, but the Amawites are actually known from cuneiform texts. However, translators may follow the Hebrew text here, which New Jewish Publication Society Version does with “in the land of his kinsfolk” (so also New Revised Standard Version footnote). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible is similar with “his land of origin,” and so is De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling with “in his native area.” It is not entirely clear, however, what the function of this piece of information would be in the text. The context (Pethor) does seem to call for a geographical specification of where the messengers had to go.

To call him: New Revised Standard Version says “to summon him,” and New Jewish Publication Society Version has “to invite him.” In some languages it will be more natural to put this clause earlier in the sentence, as Good News Bible has done (“to summon”). No notion of compelling should be implied in whichever verb is chosen. Balak is pleading for assistance from Balaam.

Saying introduces Balak’s message for Balaam through his messengers. NFB begins this message with “They [the messengers] had to say,” and De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling has “They had to summon him with these words.” Good News Bible says “They brought him this message from Balak,” which may wrongly suggest that the messengers had already arrived in Pethor to meet Balaam, whereas the text mentions this only in verse 7.

Behold, a people has come out of Egypt: The initial Hebrew word hinneh rendered Behold indicates the urgency of Balak’s appeal. Instead of the literal word Behold, Good News Bible conveys the call for attention here by beginning with “I want you to know….” Some languages may prefer to begin with “Please listen!” Balak was closely following Israel’s progress from Egypt; their exodus and travel toward Canaan was a matter of serious concern for all the people in the region.

They cover the face of the earth is literally “behold, it [Israel] covers the eye of the earth/land,” which means the Israelites cover the whole earth. Balak deliberately overstates the number of the Israelites in order to make his request to Balaam more urgent. Once again the Hebrew word hinneh (“behold”) is used to gain Balaam’s attention. Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible omit this word here, but King James Version keeps it by saying “Behold.” New Jewish Publication Society Version renders this clause as “it hides the earth from view,” and Chewa has “You have seen they have filled up the land.” This same exaggeration is used in Exod 10.5 and 15, in connection with the plague of locusts (see the comments on Exod 10.15 in A Handbook on Exodus).

And they are dwelling opposite me: New Revised Standard Version has “and they have settled next to me.” Balak feels that his kingdom is threatened because the Israelites have settled close to Moab. Revised English Bible renders this clause well, saying “and [they] are settling at my very door.” Chewa has “we are looking upon each other.” The singular pronoun me refers to Balak since he is the speaker. Like Chewa, Good News Bible uses a plural pronoun here, saying “and threatening to take over our land.” While it is Balak’s message, the pronoun “our” makes Balak speak on behalf of his people, and this may be a natural model to follow in some languages.

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 .