Translators may insert a paragraph break here since the text moves from direct speech to a narrative report.

The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses is literally “As the LORD commanded Moses, thus the daughters of Zelophehad did,” so there is emphasis on the clause as the LORD commanded Moses in Hebrew. Good News Translation avoids the repetition of the daughters of Zelophehad by combining verses 10-11. It may be helpful to do this, but Good News Translation‘s model reduces the emphasis on the fact that the LORD had commanded Zelophehad’s daughters to marry within their tribe. This problem can be solved in Good News Translation by beginning verses 10-11 with “So as the LORD had commanded Moses….”

For Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father’s brothers: For renders the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”). It does not introduce a reason here, but a result, so it is better translated “so.” The order of the names of Zelophehad’s daughters differs from that in 26.33; 27.1; and Josh 17.3 (noted by Rashi). However, translators should keep the order that is here. Were married to is literally “became wives to” (see verse 3). The Hebrew word for father’s brothers (“uncles” in Contemporary English Version) often refers specifically to a father’s brother. Some languages (for example, many Bantu patrilineal societies) will have a specific term to refer to a father’s brother. Good News Translation renders sons of their father’s brothers as “their cousins,” which wrongly suggests that the daughters might have married relatives on their mother’s side also. New International Version and New Living Translation are more accurate with “[their] cousins on their father’s side,” and so is Reina-Valera revisida with “sons of their paternal uncles.”

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 .