Exodus 25:11
Context25:11 You are to overlay 1 it with pure gold – both inside and outside you must overlay it, 2 and you are to make a surrounding border 3 of gold over it.
Exodus 25:24-25
Context25:24 You are to overlay it with 4 pure gold, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold for it. 25:25 You are to make a surrounding frame 5 for it about three inches broad, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold for its frame.
1 tn The verbs throughout here are perfect tenses with the vav (ו) consecutives. They are equal to the imperfect tense of instruction and/or injunction.
2 tn Here the verb is an imperfect tense; for the perfect sequence to work the verb would have to be at the front of the clause.
3 tn The word זֵר (zer) is used only in Exodus and seems to describe something on the order of a crown molding, an ornamental border running at the top of the chest on all four sides. There is no indication of its appearance or function.
4 tn “Gold” is an adverbial accusative of material.
5 sn There is some debate as to the meaning of מִסְגֶּרֶת (misgeret). This does not seem to be a natural part of the table and its legs. The drawing on the Arch of Titus shows two cross-stays in the space between the legs, about halfway up. It might have been nearer the top, but the drawing of the table of presence-bread from the arch shows it half-way up. This frame was then decorated with the molding as well.