You shall make it hollow, with boards is literally “Hollow of boards [or, planks] you [singular] shall make it.” This may be stated in different ways: “Make the altar out of boards, and leave it hollow” (Good News Translation); “The altar shall be a hollow wooden box” (Translator’s Old Testament); or “Construct the altar in the shape of an open box” (Contemporary English Version).

As it has been shown you on the mountain is literally “like what he [or, one] has shown you on the mountain.” (See also 25.40 and 26.30.) This is usually translated in the passive voice (“you were shown”), but Good News Translation adds “according to the plan” and changes the “he” to first person, “that I showed you.” One may also say “that I have now shown you on the mountain.”

So shall it be made is literally “thus they will make [it].” Durham is correct in translating “so they are to make it” (similarly King James Version, American Standard Version, and New American Standard Bible). The shift in the pronoun is a bit surprising, but it probably refers to the craftsmen who were actually to do the work. In many languages this will be a natural translation.

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 .