They put him in custody: The man who broke the Sabbath law was put in an unspecified place of detention until a decision could be made about his punishment. The referent for the pronoun They is ambiguous due to the mention of the Israelite community at the end of the previous verse, so Good News Translation uses a passive construction here. In languages where such a construction is not possible, this pronoun may be rendered “People” or “The leaders.”

Because it had not been made plain what should be done to him: This man was placed in detention since the Israelites did not know clearly what they should do with him. Perhaps they had to determine the degree of his intentionality in carrying out the prohibited action. The Hebrew expression here can also suggest that they may have been reluctant to impose the capital punishment that they knew this man deserved.

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 .