Verses 10-12a form a separate paragraph, describing the eastern border of Israel. Good News Translation condenses this description, which other languages may find helpful.
You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham: For You shall mark out your eastern boundary, see the comments on verse 7. Good News Translation begins verse 10 with “The eastern border will follow a line from…,” which some languages may prefer. The exact location of Shepham is unknown since it occurs only here in the Bible.
And the boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain: The repeated use of the Hebrew verb for go down (yarad) implies that the eastern border goes from higher places in the north to lower places further south. Good News Translation renders go down as “go south,” which is somewhat misleading. It would be better to say “descend south.” The exact location of Riblah and Ain is unknown. Instead of Riblah, Good News Translation has “Harbel” and Bible en français courant says “Harbelah,” which both follow the Septuagint. The Septuagint reading is based on the same consonants of the Hebrew text but on different vowels. Hebrew Old Testament Text has a slight preference for “Harbelah,” but Wevers (page 576) regards the text as uncertain.
And the boundary shall go down, and reach to the shoulder of the sea of Chinnereth on the east: The Hebrew term for shoulder (katef) refers to a mountain slope or a hillside in this context, so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders it “slopes,” and Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “hills.” Instead of the sea of Chinnereth, some translations have “Lake Galilee” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), probably because this name is better known. The problem with this rendering is that the name “Galilee” did not yet exist at the time of Israel’s conquest of Canaan. It is better to translate “the Sea/Lake of Chin-nereth” and mention in a footnote that this lake was known in New Testament times as Lake Galilee or Lake Gennesaret (so SPCL). The name Chinnereth means “harp.” The lake apparently had this name because it is shaped somewhat like a harp (so NET Bible footnote; Budd, page 367).
And the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Salt Sea: The territory specified here does not include the area for the tribes east of the Jordan River (see verses 14-15). For the Salt Sea, see verse 3.
This shall be your land with its boundaries all round: Since this sentence refers to all four borders (verses 3-12a) and acts as a concluding summary, Good News Translation helpfully makes it a separate paragraph, saying “These will be the four borders of your land.” However, Good News Translation omits the phrase all round, which should be kept. This phrase specifies the ideal borders of the land as complete and whole, thus emphasizing the implication that the Transjordan is not included (so Knierim and Coats, page 314), a point that is further emphasized in the following paragraph. So a better model here is “These will be the four borders all around your land.”
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 .