And he said to the congregation introduces what Moses said to the Israelites living near the tents of Dathan and Abiram. The congregation may be rendered “the community of Israel” (see 1.2).

Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men: Moses tells the Israelites to get away from the tents of Dathan and Abiram, whom he refers to as these wicked men. The Hebrew particle naʾ rendered I pray you makes this command more urgent (compare verse 8). For tents see 1.1. The Hebrew term for wicked implies being guilty with respect to some specific prohibited actions or unlawful behavior, in this case, rebellion against the LORD and his chosen leaders, Moses and Aaron.

And touch nothing of theirs is literally “and do not touch in all that [belongs] to them.” The pronoun theirs refers to Dathan and Abiram. Good News Translation renders this clause well with “and don’t touch anything that belongs to them.”

Lest you be swept away with all their sins: The figurative expression swept away means “destroyed” (New Living Translation). Good News Translation says “wiped out,” which is an alternative image. With all their sins mistranslates the Hebrew preposition (b ) in this phrase. Good News Translation says “for all their sins,” which is better, but still not clear enough in English. Revised English Bible is best with “because of all their sins.” A separate sentence may be needed to convey the desired impact of this clause; for example, New International Readers Version has “If you do, the LORD will sweep you away because of all of their sins,” and Good News Translation says “Otherwise, you will be wiped out with them for all their sins.”

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 .