There shall be two tenons in each frame is literally “two hands for one frame.” The Hebrew word is the common word for “hand,” but as a technical term it may mean “pegs” (New Revised Standard Version), “arms” (New American Bible), or “projections” (New International Version). These wooden tenons were evidently placed at the bottom end of each frame, to be inserted into the silver bases mentioned in verse 19. For fitting together is literally “joined a woman unto her sister.” (See the comment for this expression at verse 3.) The word translated as fitting, or “joined,” was used in later Hebrew for rungs of a ladder, so Good News Translation has “matching projections,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New International Version have “parallel to each other.”

However, it is more likely that these frames had as their main elements two upright “arms” (New American Bible) which were about fifteen feet high, and possibly not more than a few inches wide, something like modern two-by-fours. Each arm was joined to the other by cross-pieces or rungs and had a tenon-like projection at the bottom which was mortised or sunk into a silver base (see the illustration). There are therefore two possible interpretations for verse 17: (1) The frames were huge planks secured into silver bases at the bottom by two tenons or projections. This view is suggested by New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New American Bible, and others. (2) The frames were lighter wooden frames composed of two arms connected by cross-pieces, with a tenon at the bottom of each arm to fit into a silver base. Translators are encouraged to follow this second view. (For further discussion of this possibility, see Hatton, 1991.)

So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle is quite literal. New International Version has “Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way,” and Good News Translation has “All the frames are to have these projections.” Given the two interpretations above, alternative translation models for verses 15-17 are the following:

• Build upright frames for the sacred tent out of acacia wood. Each frame is to be fifteen feet high and twenty-seven inches wide. Make two wooden pegs for the bottom of each frame.

• Build upright frames for the sacred tent out of acacia wood. Each frame is to be fifteen feet high and twenty-seven inches wide, with two matching arms that are joined together by cross-pieces. All the frames will have these cross-pieces.

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 .