And there shall be six branches going out of its sides is literally “and six branches going out from its sides.” There shall be has been added. Going out is a participle that may be translated as “[there shall be] going out,” or as “[they] shall go out.” The idea is that “Six branches shall extend from its sides” (Good News Translation). The word for branches is the plural form of the word for “shaft” in verse 31. It has the basic meaning of a large reed or stalk but here is used to describe branches going out from the central shaft, like branches growing out from the trunk of a tree.

Out of one side of it and out of the other side of it means that the lampstand is thought of as having just two sides, with three branches extending in one direction, and the other three branches extending in the opposite direction. Good News Translation has shown that all of this may be said in fewer words: “Six branches shall extend from its sides, three from each side.” It is not indicated whether they were straight or whether they curved upward. Probably all six of them extended upward to support the seven lamps in a straight line. Contemporary English Version is even shorter: “with three branches on each of its two sides.” In some languages it will be necessary to make the upward orientation of the branches explicit; for example, “Six branches shall extend upwards from the two sides, three from each side.”

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 .