Then they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet: The pronoun them refers to the table with its sacred bread and all the other items on it. The Hebrew expression for a cloth of scarlet refers to crimson-red material. The dye for this color came from the larvae of an insect found on oak trees. The Hebrew uses two words to refer to the color scarlet, which is literally “worm-scarlet.” This color was a deep, rich red, like “crimson” (New Revised Standard Version). Contemporary English Version says “bright red,” which helps to express that the color was special.

And cover the same with a covering of goatskin: On top of the bright red cloth they had to put a fine leather covering. For the Hebrew expression rendered goatskin, which refers to “fine leather” (Good News Translation), see verse 6.

And shall put in its poles: Like the sacred chest, the table for the sacred bread had rings on its sides through which poles were placed to carry it (see Exo 25.26-28; 37.13-15). Good News Translation renders poles as “carrying poles” to express more clearly that they were used to carry the table. Bible en français courant says “poles serving to carry the table.”

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 .