Now: Chapter 32 takes place in the plains of Moab, along the Jordan River, across from Jericho (22.1–36.13), but its chronological position in the last major part of the book of Numbers is not entirely clear; it does not necessarily come directly after chapter 31 (so Knierim and Coats, page 299). A discourse marker such as Now (literally “And”) in English will help to show that a new section begins here, without suggesting that it comes directly after the preceding chapter chronologically. Chewa uses its discourse marker for opening narratives, which is literally “It was found that….”

The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad refers to “The tribes of Reuben and Gad” (Good News Translation). Another possible rendering is “the Reubenites and the Gadites.” This order of the names Reuben and Gad is followed only here in this chapter.

Had a very great multitude of cattle: The Hebrew word for cattle (miqneh) is very general and includes all types of herded animals, including cows, donkeys, camels, sheep and goats, so it is better rendered “livestock” (Good News Translation; see 20.19). The Hebrew uses a strong expression here to describe the large number of livestock. Good News Translation renders a very great multitude of cattle as “a lot of livestock” (similarly Contemporary English Version), which seems rather weak. Better models are “a very great number of livestock” (ESV) and “an immense quantity of livestock” (Reina-Valera revisida). This description about the livestock of the Reubenites and the Gadites comes at the beginning of the present narrative unit to indicate its prominence; it motivates the following dialogue between them and Moses in verses 2-32.

And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle: The land of Jazer and the land of Gilead were fertile, well-watered regions east of the Jordan River. Jazer was a town (see 21.32), so it may help to render the land of Jazer as “the land [or, region] around the town of Jazer” to avoid misunderstanding. Gilead was a territory, east of the Jordan, extending south in a narrow strip from near the Lake of Galilee to near the northern end of the Dead Sea. The Hebrew word hinneh rendered behold introduces what the Reubenites and Gadites saw concerning this land: it was a place good for raising livestock. Good News Translation renders this clause well, saying “they saw how suitable the land of Jazer and Gilead was for cattle.” Another possible model is “and they saw what a suitable place for livestock the land of Jazer and Gilead was.” Duguid (page 338) makes the following interesting suggestion on this verse: “Seeing is frequently the prelude to bad decisions because our eyes tend to make superficial judgments” (see Gen 3.6).

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 .