And on the lampstand itself refers to the “central stem” (Translator’s Old Testament), or “shaft” (Good News Translation), of verse 31, although the word menorah is used here. Four cups made like almonds is literally “four cups almond-blossom-shaped” (see verse 33). With their capitals and flowers refers to the “calyxes and petals” (New Revised Standard Version), as explained at verse 31. The pronoun there is really the singular “its,” meaning that each the four cups was to have its own capitals and flowers, or “buds and petals” (Good News Translation). Another way of expressing this is “Make four flowers shaped like almond blossoms along with their buds and petals on the shaft [or, stem] of the lampstand.”
And a capital of one piece with it means that “there shall be a calyx” (New Revised Standard Version) formed as part of the “shaft,” or central stem of the lampstand. Under each pair of the six branches condenses three identical phrases into one. Literally the phrase “and a calyx under two of the branches from it” is repeated three times. This means that, just below the joint where each of the three pairs of branches go out from the “shaft,” there is to be a cup that is a part of the “shaft.” (See the illustration, page 601.) The fourth cup evidently was to be at the top end of the central stem as the seventh lamp-holder. (See verse 33.)
Going out from the lampstand is literally “for six of the branches going out from the menorah.” But since Revised Standard Version condenses the three repeated phrases into one, it is already clear that “There is to be one bud below each of the three pairs of branches” (Good News Translation). Since New Revised Standard Version translates the three identical phrases literally, the final phrase is also quite literal: “so for the six branches that go out of the lampstand.” Contemporary English Version has a good model: “There must also be a blossom where each pair of branches comes out from the stem.”
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 .