Good News Translation starts a new paragraph here, while Revised Standard Version starts one at verse 14. But the Hebrew pattern of verbs suggests that verses 12-14 can be regarded as a distinct paragraph as well as the closure of the larger unit covering verses 5-14. As noted in the introductory comments on this section, verses 15-19 provide background information that gives the reasons for dedicating the Levites, drawing heavily on 3.5-13, 40-51 (where the wave offering is not mentioned).

And you shall cause the Levites to attend Aaron and his sons is literally “And you shall cause the Levites to stand before Aaron and his sons,” which means Moses must make sure that the Levites serve the priests. In some languages a literal rendering of this clause may imply that Moses had to use force to get the Levites to do their job. If so, Chewa provides a helpful model here, saying “Tell the Levites to….” Aaron and his sons refers to the priests.

And shall offer them as a wave offering to the LORD: See verse 11. Since the LORD is speaking, Good News Translation renders to the LORD as “to me.” Another possible model is “to me, the LORD.”

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 .