And there was under his feet is literally “and under his feet.” The verb there was must be supplied. As it were is one word, literally “like something made of,” “something like” (New Revised Standard Version), or “something that looked like” (Contemporary English Version). It intentionally marks as indefinite and inadequate the description that follows.

A pavement of sapphire stone describes an area covered or paved with a layer of precious stones called sapphire. The word sapphire actually comes from the Hebrew sappir, but it may refer to what is known today as “lapis lazuli,” a semiprecious stone that is azure blue in color, like the sky. New American Bible has “sapphire tilework,” and Durham has “a mosaic pavement of lapis lazuli.” If either “sapphires” or “lapis lazuli” are unknown in a receptor language culture, the best thing to do is identify the stone by its color; for example, “and looked like a pavement made with a blue precious stone” or “… a blue precious stone called ‘sapphire.’ ” The translator should consult the illustrations of precious stones in Bible dictionaries such as The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 3, facing page 472.

Like the very heaven for clearness is literally “and like bones of the heavens for purity.” The word for “bones,” however, is sometimes used to describe the essential identity of something or someone. The word for clearness comes from the verb to be clean or pure. New International Version focuses on the clearness, “clear as the sky itself.” Contemporary English Version has “as bright as the sky,” and Good News Translation focuses on the color, “as blue as the sky.” This description suggests the idea of the firmament, or dome of the sky, as the floor of the throne room of God the creator. (See Gen 1.7-8 and Ezek 1.26.)

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Under his feet was something that looked like a pavement made out of blue precious stones called “sapphire.” This pavement was as blue as the sky.

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 .