The hundred talents of silver were is literally “And there was one hundred talent of the silver.” This refers back to verse 25. For casting the bases of the sanctuary indicates that the bases, first mentioned in 26.19, were made by casting. (See the comment there.) The sanctuary, literally “the holy place,” refers to the tent itself, not including the enclosure. The bases of the veil refers to the four bases mentioned in 26.32.

A hundred bases … a talent for a base is a simple calculation showing that the talent must have been the planned measurement for each base. That means that each base weighed “75 pounds” (Good News Translation), or “34 kilograms.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Bezalel used seventy-five pounds of the silver to make each of the one hundred bases for the sacred tent and the curtain.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .