And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead: Good News Translation says “The whole community learned that Aaron had died.” However, a more literal rendering would be more accurate here, for example, “The whole community saw that Aaron had died.” They saw it since only Moses and Eleazar, wearing Aaron’s priestly robes, came down from Mount Hor.

All the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days: Here the Israelites are referred to as one extended family with the phrase all the house of Israel (see 1.2 for the word house). Good News Translation says simply “they all,” but it is better to translate “the entire nation of Israel” (New International Readers Version) to keep the emphasis of the Hebrew text. The most natural expression for public mourning at a funeral should be used for the verb wept, for example, “cried a crying” (Chewa). Thirty days was the same period of mourning observed later for Moses’ death (Deut 34.8).

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 .