The heads of the fathers’ houses of the families of the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh …: A narrative-opening conjunction or transitional expression may be needed at the beginning of this verse, which begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”). New Living Translation and NET Bible begin with the conjunction “Then,” and one African translation has “One day.” The Hebrew expression for heads of the fathers’ houses (literally “heads of the fathers”) refers to leaders of extended families, which include three or four generations (see the comments on 1.2). New Revised Standard Version has “heads of the ancestral houses,” New International Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh say “family heads,” and Contemporary English Version uses “family leaders.” This same phrase occurs at the end of the verse. The Hebrew term rendered families is mishpachah. As noted in 1.2, this word refers to a clan, which is composed of several families. It is a singular word here, so it is better rendered “clan” (Good News Translation, New International Version, La Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The families of the sons of Gilead may be rendered simply “the clan of Gilead” (Good News Translation). For Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, see 26.29.

Of the fathers’ houses of the sons of Joseph: Fathers’ houses renders the Hebrew word mishpachah, so this phrase is more accurately translated “among the clans of the sons of Joseph” (La Nouvelle Bible Segond). Other possible models are “of the Josephite clans” (New Revised Standard Version) and “who were from the clans of Joseph” (similarly NET Bible). Good News Translation says simply “son of Joseph,” perhaps to avoid the wrong suggestion that Manasseh was not one of Joseph’s own sons, but a later descendant of his. However, in some languages it is better to avoid this misunderstanding by keeping the whole phrase as follows: “one of the clans of the sons of Joseph” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Some languages may prefer to move this phrase near the beginning of this verse by saying “The family leaders of one of the Josephite clans, the clan of Gilead, the son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh….” Bible en français courant is similar with “Of the descendants of Joseph, the family heads of the clan of Gilaad, son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh….”

The Hebrew verb rendered came near is the same one translated “drew near” in 27.1 (see the comments there). Again, “went” (Good News Translation) is not a very precise rendering. It is more accurate to say “came forward” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “approached” (NET Bible).

And spoke before Moses and before the leaders: In this context the verb spoke may be rendered “appealed” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). New Living Translation renders this verb and the previous one as “came … with a petition.” The Hebrew word for leaders is nasiʾ, which refers to prominent and distinguished leaders, for example, sheikhs (see the comments on 1.16), so it is better rendered “chiefs” (Revised English Bible) or “chieftains” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

The heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel: This phrase is in apposition to the leaders. Good News Translation omits this phrase, which we do not recommend. Omitting it does make for easier reading, but in the Hebrew text this lengthy expression serves as an appropriate introduction to an important new section of the overall discourse. New International Version keeps it by saying “the heads of the Israelite families.”

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 .