There is no Hebrew waw conjunction at the beginning of this verse, which strengthens the suggestion above that a new poetic paragraph, or strophe, begins here (including verses 8-9a).
God brings him out of Egypt: This line and the next one are almost identical with 23.22 (see the comments there). As there, brings renders a Hebrew participle, which is better rendered with a past tense in this context (so Good News Translation with “brought”). The pronoun him (“it” in Buber) refers to Israel, just as “his” did in the previous verse. In some languages a plural pronoun will be more natural (so Good News Translation with “them”), while in others an explicit reference to “Israel” or “the Israelites” may be needed for the sake of clarity.
He has as it were the horns of a wild ox: See the comments on 23.22. In Revised Standard Version the pronoun he could refer to Israel or to God. The ambiguity here may be deliberate: the LORD is the one who empowers and preserves Israel. However, most translations make it clear that God is the referent for this pronoun; for example, New Revised Standard Version renders the first two lines of this verse as “God who brings him out of Egypt, is like the horns of a wild ox for him [Israel],” and Good News Translation has “God brought them out of Egypt; He fights for them like a wild ox.”
He shall eat up the nations his adversaries: In this context the verb eat up is a figurative expression meaning “totally destroy.” Many languages will be able to keep this imagery. The referent for the pronouns he and his is ambiguous. Many translations make it explicit that these pronouns refer to Israel rather than to God; for example, Good News Translation renders this line as “they devour their enemies” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “They shall devour enemy nations,” and SPCL says “Israel will devour the enemy nations.” Contemporary English Version follows the same interpretation with “You [Israel] will defeat your enemies,” and so do Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, and Levine. On the other hand, a number of translations interpret these pronouns as referring to God (so New Living Translation, Bijbel in Gewone Taal, Contemporary Russian Version, Friedman). Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch omit nations, apparently feeling that this concept is implied in “enemies.” However, the Hebrew word for nations (goyim; see 23.9) is a key term in the Bible and therefore should be kept if possible.
And shall break their bones in pieces: It may be overly graphic and hence too distracting to render this line literally in some languages. However, where possible, the ferocious animal imagery here should be kept. The pronoun their refers to Israel’s (or God’s) enemies.
And pierce them through with his arrows: The Hebrew verb here (machats) means “smash” (Good News Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), not pierce … through. Good News Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders this line as “[And] smash their [the enemies’] arrows.” However, this rendering is not plausible, since his arrows refers to Israel’s (or God’s) arrows, not the arrows of the nations. A better model here is “and smash them with his arrows” (Luther) or “and smash them with their arrows.” Contemporary English Version and New Living Translation say “shooting them with arrows,” perhaps because the collocation of the verb “smash” with “arrows” is not natural in English. Alter and Levine follow the Peshitta by saying “and smashes his loins” (similarly Willibrordvertaling). This reading makes a good parallel with the previous line, which refers to crushing their bones. However, the Hebrew text as it stands makes good sense here, so there is no need to change it from his arrows (chitstsayw) to “his loins” (chalatsayw).
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 .