This verse repeats the theme of verse 2, which is Israel’s inheritance of the land of Canaan, so verses 13-15 are a separate paragraph that concludes the subsection that began in verse 1. Moses now takes over in speaking from the LORD to indicate the conclusion of the official demarcation of the land’s boundaries and to reiterate the exception caused by the Transjordan territories (see chapter 32). Since this is a conclusion, Good News Translation begins this verse with the connector “So,” which renders the Hebrew waw conjunction.

Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying: In many languages the verb commanded must be changed because what follows this quote frame does not sound at all like a command. Good News Translation uses the verb “said,” and Contemporary English Version has “told.”

This is the land which you shall inherit by lot: See the comments on 26.55 and 33.54. As there, Good News Translation renders by lot as “by drawing lots.”

Which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe: Here the verb commanded fits the context well; in fact, it may be more appropriate than the weaker verb “assigned” (Good News Translation). The nine tribes and the half-tribe refer to the Israelites who inherited the land of Canaan, not those who received their land in the Transjordan, which the next two verses make clear (so Knierim and Coats, page 316). These tribes were Judah, Simeon, Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half of Manasseh (see verses 19-28).

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 .