It shall be square and double is literal, but the word for double also means “folded double” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). It is not clear here whether it was to be square and then “folded double” (New International Version), or whether it was to be “square when folded double” (Revised English Bible). Most probably it was “folded double to make a square bag” (Translator’s Old Testament). This is made a bit clearer in 39.9. (See the comment there.)

A span its length and a span its breadth is about “9 inches long and 9 inches wide” (Good News Translation), or “nine inches square” (Contemporary English Version), or “22 centimeters square.” The span represents the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the fingers are stretched wide.

A possible alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They shall fold it double and make it nine inches square.

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 .