On the sides translates one word in Hebrew, which is more literally “windward.” Generally, translators follow one of two interpretations: (1) “visible to the eye” (Good News Translation “visible from the ground”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “which people could see from beneath”; New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “facing outward”) or (2) “hanging loosely” (Bible en français courant “on the sides,” with a note indicating that the pomegranates were divided into twenty-four fruits on each side plus one at each of the four corners, and with a note giving the alternative meaning and pointing the reader to 1Kgs 7.17-21).

It is much more logical in many languages to start with the one hundred pomegranates, and then mention the ninety-six that were visible (or, that were on the sides) than to follow the order of the text. See Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .