complete verse (Exodus 26:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 26:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “Someone stitch/sew (the) five curtains together to become one cloth, and also stitch/sew the other six to become one. Someone fold the sixth one into two and lay it to cover the door/entrance end of the Tent.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Make one piece of cloth joining the five panels and then make another one joining the other six panels. The sixth panel gets folded back a little at the front of the tent.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Join the five cloth-materials, and also (do) the-same to the remaining six. The sixth cloth-material will-be-folded at the front of the Tent.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Sew five cloths so that they go and join together and so become one long cloth. And sew the other six cloths which still remain so that they go and join together also like that, and so they become like one long cloth also, yet having six pieces. And when it’s done, then fold this cloth which has five pieces, so that this fold of the cloth exists as the covering for the end of my shelter.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Five, you shall sew it together, and six other, you make it thus, but sixth cloth, you fold it [mouth], drape it above door.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Tell them to sew five of these pieces of cloth together to make one set, and sew the other six pieces of cloth together to make another set. They must fold the sixth piece of cloth in half to make it double over the front of the Sacred Tent.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 26:9

And you shall couple five curtains by themselves is literally “And you [singular] shall join five tent-fabrics alone.” This means, as Good News Translation renders it, “Sew five of them together in one set.” And six curtains by themselves means to sew “the other six in another set” (Good News Translation). As explained at verse 3, these pieces were to be sewn together along the sides, not at the ends. Again five widths of four cubits each become twenty cubits, so the size of the first set will be twenty cubits by thirty cubits, or about ten by fifteen yards. And six widths of four cubits each become twenty-four cubits, so the size of the second set is twenty-four cubits by thirty cubits, or about twelve by fifteen yards. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model: “Sew five of the sections together to make one panel. Then sew the other six together to make a second panel.”

And the sixth curtain, or piece of cloth, refers to the additional piece of material in the second set. You shall double over means to “fold” it back over itself, so that it covers only two cubits of space. At the front of the tent means that this folded portion is to be placed at the entrance into the tabernacle when it is finally set up. Good News Translation has “Fold the sixth piece double over the front of the Tent”; Contemporary English Version has “and fold the sixth section double over the front of the tent.”

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 .