And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and any one who touches it shall be unclean until evening: This verse gives general principles about the ritual impurity of people. It highlights again what the consequences are if ritual impurity is not dealt with and taken very seriously. Pollution, like sin, is highly contagious and must therefore be counteracted immediately so that a state of ritual purity can be restored within the community of a holy God. Good News Translation provides a good model for this verse.

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 .