OET interlinear NUM 21:1

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / events

וַ⁠יִּשְׁמַ֞ע הַ⁠כְּנַעֲנִ֤י מֶֽלֶךְ־עֲרָד֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב הַ⁠נֶּ֔גֶב כִּ֚י בָּ֣א יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל דֶּ֖רֶךְ הָ⁠אֲתָרִ֑ים

and=he/it_listened the=Kənaˊₐnī king ˊArād was_sitting the,Negev that/for/because/then/when he/it_came Yisrael road/way_of of,the_Atharim

The event narrated in 21:1–3 may have happened before or after Aaron died, which was narrated in 20:23–29. The Hebrew word translated as “and” at the beginning of this verse does not necessarily mean that this event happened after the previous event. If it would be helpful in your language, you could introduce this event in a way that does not indicate whether it came before or after the previous event. Alternate translation: [Now it also happened that the Canaanite, the king of Arad, the one dwelling in the Negev, heard that Israel had come the way of the Atharim]

Note 2 topic: writing-participants

הַ⁠כְּנַעֲנִ֤י מֶֽלֶךְ־עֲרָד֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב הַ⁠נֶּ֔גֶב

the=Kənaˊₐnī king ˊArād was_sitting the,Negev

Here the author is introducing the Canaanite, the king of Arad, the one dwelling in the Negev as a new participant in the story. Your language may have its own way of introducing new participants that you can use in your translation. Alternate translation: [the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev]

Note 3 topic: translate-names

דֶּ֖רֶךְ הָ⁠אֲתָרִ֑ים

road/way_of of,the_Atharim

Here, the word Atharim could be: (1) a proper name for a city. In this case, the road probably led to Atharim. Alternate translation: [the road to Atharim] (2) a word that means “spies.” In this case, this is probably the road that the Israelite men traveled on when they explored the land (see Numbers 13–14). Alternate translation: [the way the Israelite spies had traveled]

Note 4 topic: writing-pronouns

וַ⁠יִּלָּ֨חֶם֙ בְּ⁠יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַ⁠יִּ֥שְׁבְּ מִמֶּ֖⁠נּוּ שֶֽׁבִי

and,he_engaged_in_battle against,Israel and,he_took_captive from=him/it prisoners

The pronoun him refers to the nation of Israel. It may be helpful to clarify this for your readers. Alternate translation: [and he fought against Israel, and he took captive from Israel a captive]

Note 5 topic: writing-poetry

וַ⁠יִּ֥שְׁבְּ מִמֶּ֖⁠נּוּ שֶֽׁבִי

and,he_took_captive from=him/it prisoners

This is poetic language. If your language has a way to indicate poetry, you could use it here.