And you shall put them in one basket uses the most common Hebrew word for basket, which is always used as a container for foodstuffs. It was woven from cane or reeds, but the shape and size is not indicated. (A different word is used in 2.3.) Them refers to the bread in verse 2, and one basket suggests a limited amount of bread to be baked. Contemporary English Version is more specific: “Put all of this bread in a basket.”

And bring them, literally “and you [singular] will cause them to come near,” means to “offer” (Good News Translation) or “present” (New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) the different kinds of bread. The word is used for approaching God or the place of worship. Verse 4 indicates that they were to be brought to the door of the tabernacle, and verse 23 implies that they were to be placed “before the LORD.” Since Yahweh is the speaker, Good News Translation has “offer them to me.” In the basket, of course, is understood and does not have to be repeated. And bring the bull and the two rams is literally “and the young bull and the two rams.” (See verse 1.) Bring is not repeated as in Revised Standard Version, but the same idea of “offer” clearly applies to the animals. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “along with the bull and the two rams.”

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 .