And you shall make still has the singular you. For the breastpiece is literally “on the breastpiece” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Twisted chains like cords is literally “chains of twisting, work of a cord.” This description is almost identical with the “chains” of the ephod in verse 14, and some scholars believe that this verse is simply referring to the same “two chains.” (See verse 25.) This certainly makes the most sense in translation. (See also the illustration on page 658.) Of pure gold is also like verse 14 but should probably be advanced in the sentence: “chains of pure gold, twisted like cords” (Good News Translation) or “braided chains of pure gold, like a rope” (New International Version).

And you shall make for the breastpiece is exactly like verse 22. Two rings of gold uses the same word for rings as for the carrying poles of the ark (25.23) and the table (25.26), but they would have been much smaller for the breastpiece. And put the two rings uses the same word for put as the word for “attach” in verse 14. The word for edges is the same word used in verse 7, so it is not clear whether this means edges, or “ends” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “corners” (New International Version). Probably it refers to “the two upper corners of the breastpiece” (Good News Translation) or “the upper front corners of the breastpiece” (Contemporary English Version), since the rings will be used to fasten it to the shoulder straps of the ephod (verse 25). Verse 27 speaks about two more rings that will be attached to the lower corners.

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 .