OET interlinear NUM 11:4

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וְ⁠הָֽ⁠אסַפְסֻף֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּ⁠קִרְבּ֔⁠וֹ

and,the,rabble which/who [was]_in,midst_of,its

The implication is that there were some people among the Israelites who were not Israelites themselves and who were causing trouble by encouraging the Israelites to complain. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [And some non-Israelite troublemakers that were]

Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns

בְּ⁠קִרְבּ֔⁠וֹ

[was]_in,midst_of,its

The pronoun its refers to the people of Israel. It may be helpful to clarify this for your readers. Alternate translation: [in the midst of the people]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

בְּ⁠קִרְבּ֔⁠וֹ

[was]_in,midst_of,its

Here, the author is speaking as if the non-Israelite people were actually in the midst of all the Israelites. He means that the non-Israelites were living among the Israelites. Your language may have a comparable expression that you can use in your translation, or you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [among the people]

Note 4 topic: writing-poetry

הִתְאַוּ֖וּ תַּאֲוָ֑ה

they_craved craving

The author is using a construction in which a verb and its object come from the same root. You may be able to use the same construction in your language to express the meaning here. Alternatively, your language may have another way of saying this. Alternate translation: [had a strong desire]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

תַּאֲוָ֑ה

craving

By a desire, the author means a desire to eat meat. You could indicate this explicitly in your translation if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [a desire to eat meat]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

תַּאֲוָ֑ה

craving

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of desire, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [what they desired]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וַ⁠יָּשֻׁ֣בוּ וַ⁠יִּבְכּ֗וּ

and,they_returned and,they_wept

The author is using returned, and they wept as a common expression of his culture to mean “they wept again.” The text in [11:1–2](../11/01.md) implies that they had already wept once. If this phrase does not have that meaning in your language, you could use a comparable expression from your language that does have that meaning, or you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [wept again]

Note 8 topic: writing-pronouns

וַ⁠יֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ

and=they_said

The pronoun they refers to the Israelites who were complaining. It may be helpful to clarify this for your readers. Alternate translation: [And the Israelites said]

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

מִ֥י יַאֲכִלֵ֖⁠נוּ בָּשָֽׂר

who? will,he_cause_us_to_eat flesh/meat

The Israelites are using the question form to express their strong desire for meat. If a speaker of your language would not use the question form for that purpose, you could translate this as a statement or as an exclamation. Alternate translation: [If only someone would feed us flesh!]