This was the number of the people of Israel …: New Revised Standard Version is more accurate with “This was the number of the Israelites enrolled…” (similarly De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), since number renders the Hebrew verb paqad (see the comments on verse 7). New Living Translation renders the correct sense here more naturally with “In summary, the registered troops of all Israel numbered….” New Living Translation also makes it explicit that this sentence gives the total number of enrolled Israelites by beginning with “In summary.” Similarly, some translations add the word “total” (Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, Willibrordvertaling, Contemporary Russian Version). SPCL renders this sentence as “The Israelites counted in the census amounted to…,” which may be a helpful model in some languages. The Hebrew construction here does not have a past tense verb (unlike the construction in 1.46, where the total for the first census is given), so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “This is the enrollment of the Israelites:….” Parole de Vie and Luther also use a present tense verb. Like Hebrew, Contemporary Russian Version does not have a verb here, thus making the style fitting for a list.

Six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty: This number is slightly smaller than the total number in the first census (1.46). See the comments on 1.20-46 for a discussion on the surprisingly high numbers in the two censuses. If the Hebrew word for thousand (ʾelef) is taken to mean “contingent,” then the number “forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty” for the tribe of Reuben in verse 7 should be rendered “43 contingents that together numbered 730 men.” With this interpretation of ʾelef in chapter 26 (so Noth, page 204; Budd, page 287), the tribes together would consist of 596 (that is, 43 + 22 + 40 + 76 + 64 + 60 + 52 + 32 + 45 + 64 + 53 + 45) contingents, and the total number of men would only be 5,730 (that is, 730 + 200 + 500 + 500 + 300 + 500 + 700 + 500 + 600 + 400 + 400 + 400). The number of men in one contingent would have to vary between 5 (in the tribe of Issachar) and 17 (in the tribe of Reuben). In the end, however, the total number of 601,730 still shows that the text itself treats the thousands as part of the actual numbers. Thus, it is the actual text with its high numbers that should be translated.

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 .