And they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of goatskin: A new sentence is needed here, as in Good News Translation. The clumsy, overly long sentences of Revised Standard Version must be avoided in most languages. All its utensils refers to all the lampstand’s equipment mentioned in the previous verse. For the Hebrew expression rendered goatskin, which refers to “fine leather” (Good News Translation), see verse 6.

And put it upon the carrying frame: The carrying frame was probably a flexible bar to which the lampstand and its equipment were tied and carried by two Levites. Instead of the carrying frame, Good News Translation says “a carrying frame,” which is a better rendering. Revised Standard Version‘s translation will wrongly suggest that the carrying frame here and the one in verse 12 were the same. Also, in some languages an expression with a more indefinite meaning may have to be used to render carrying frame, for example, Chewa has “its thing for carrying [the specified items] upon.”

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .