Description and usage
The frame walls of the Tabernacle were held together by a system of horizontal poles that were placed through rings attached to the individual frames. These rings were made of gold.
Translation
EXO 26:24: “At the first ring” (RSV) is literally “unto the one [or, first] ring.” It may also be rendered “into a single ring” (NIV, REB; similarly Durham). NJPSV has “inside one ring.” Nothing has been mentioned earlier in the text about rings for the framework, but EXO 26:29 mentions gold rings that are evidently to be placed along the individual frames for holding the crossbars. “The first ring” may therefore be the one at “the top.” In verse 24 GNT and CEV, for some reason, omit any reference to the “ring.” This may be because referring to the ring here doesn’t appear to make sense. However, if this is a ring for a crossbar (see verse 29), we may translate 26.24b as “and [or, but] joined at the top near the first gold ring for holding a crossbar.”