And make an incense, literally “and you [singular] shall make it an incense,” may start a new sentence. The “it” may refer either to the frankincense just mentioned, as a base ingredient, or to the incense that follows. Since all four ingredients are to be used, Good News Translation has “Use them to make incense.” Blended as by the perfumer is literally “a mixture, work of a mixer.” It is almost identical with the phrase in verse 25. (See the comment there.)

Seasoned with salt, pure and holy is literally “salted, clear, holy.” The word seasoned may give the wrong idea of improving the taste, but this mixture was certainly not edible. Contemporary English Version has “then add salt.” The purpose of the salt is therefore not clear, but probably it was intended to make the incense burn faster and produce more smoke. The word for pure is different from the word describing the frankincense in verse 34, but it means about the same thing. The word for holy is the usual word meaning “sacred” or “set apart.” (See the comment at 3.5.)

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 .