Afterward they saw also a new kind of birds: Good News Translation joins verses 11 and 12, moving this line to the end. However, it misunderstands this line. The point is not that the Israelites had never seen quail before, but rather that this was something new, a new kind of creation. As the Revised Standard Version footnote points out, kind could be translated “production” or even “creation.” For a new kind of birds, Winston has “a new mode of bird production,” a phrase that sounds comical, but it is the right interpretation. The idea is that just as the earth was producing gnats and the river was producing frogs, the sea was producing birds. The writer is taking Num 11.31 literally.

When desire led them to ask for luxurious food: Compare Num 11.4-6. The two lines of verse 11 can be reversed as follows: “Later, when they demanded better food than they had been eating, they saw birds being created [or, produced] in a new way…” or “… they saw you produce [or, create] birds in a new way.”

For, to give them relief, quails came up from the sea: Good News Translation is misleading with “to satisfy their hunger.” The Israelites in the desert were not hungry; they were just tired of eating manna all the time, and wanted something better. New Jerusalem Bible translates “to satisfy them,” which is good. We could join this verse with the preceding one, and say “… when, to satisfy their desires, quail came up out of the sea.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.