Moses wrote down …: The Pentateuch rarely refers to Moses writing. He wrote down the Law (Exo 24.4; 34.27; Deut 31.9, 24), the curse against Amalek (Exo 17.14), his final song (Deut 31.22), and this itinerary. This is the only place in Numbers that mentions Moses writing. Moses is rather known as the spokesman for the LORD (see, for example, 30.1).

Their starting places, stage by stage … these are their stages according to their starting places: The Hebrew text features a chiastic arrangement here, perhaps to reflect the people’s disciplined marching order. It reads literally as follows:

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 .