complete verse (Numbers 16:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 16:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then the people moved away from where those tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram were. Dathan and Abiram came out of their tents and stood outside together with their wives and all their children.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Since it was like that, they went far away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram stood at the entrances to their tents [each] with their wife and children.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So the people stayed-far-away from the tents of Korah, Dothan, and Abiram. Now, Dathan and Abiram came-out and stood at the entrance of their tents together with their wives and children.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So all the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out of their tents with their wives and children and babies, and stood at the entrances of their tents.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 16:27

So they got away from about the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram: The pronoun they refers to the Israelite people of the community at large. They did what Moses told them to do. The conjunction So indicates well their compliance. This clause repeats closely the instructions given to them at the end of verse 24 (see the comments there), so it continues the narrative from that point. As in verse 24, the names Dathan and Abiram are not in the Septuagint (so also New Jerusalem Bible, La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle), but we advise translators to follow the Hebrew text. The narrator again weaves the two groups of rebels into one with respect to divine punishment.

And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones: This sentence does not continue the narrative after the previous one; rather, it continues the narrative about Dathan and Abiram in verses 25-26 (referred to as “Conflict 2” in the introductory comments on this section). It is probably for this reason that Good News Translation starts a new paragraph with this sentence and uses a past perfect tense (“had come out” [so also New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible]). It is important that a confusing sequence of events is not presented in translation. At the door of their tents is better rendered “at the entrances of their tents” (New Living Translation), especially in languages where a “door” refers to something solid that opens and closes on hinges. A curtain was used to cover the entrance of a tent. For little ones, see 14.3. Contemporary English Version omits this sentence, which we do not recommend.

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 .