Exodus - Chapter 28

¹ 'From among the Israelites, summon your brother Aaron and his sons to be priests in my service: Aaron and Aaron's sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

² For your brother Aaron you will make sacred vestments to give dignity and magnificence.

³ You will instruct all the skilled men, whom I have endowed with skill, to make Aaron's vestments for his consecration to my priesthood.

⁴ These are the vestments which they must make: a pectoral, an ephod, a robe, an embroidered tunic, a turban and a belt. They must make sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons, for them to be priests in my service.

⁵ They will use gold and violet material, red-purple and crimson, and finely woven linen.

⁶ 'They will make the ephod of finely woven linen embroidered with gold, violet-purple, red-purple and crimson.

⁷ It will have two shoulder-straps joined to it; it will be joined to them by its two edges.

⁸ The waistband on the ephod to hold it in position must be of the same workmanship and be of a piece with it: of gold, violet-purple, red-purple and crimson materials and finely woven linen.

⁹ You will then take two cornelians and engrave them with the names of the sons of Israel,

¹⁰ six of their names on one stone, the remaining six names on the other, in the order of their birth.

¹¹ By the stone-carver's art -- seal engraving -- you will engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You will have them mounted in gold settings

¹² and will put the two stones on the shoulder-straps of the ephod, to commemorate the sons of Israel. In this way Aaron will bear their names on his two shoulders, before Yahweh, as a reminder.

¹³ You will also make golden rosettes,

¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold twisted like cord, and will attach the cord-like chains to the rosettes.

¹⁵ 'You will make the breastplate of judgement of the same embroidered work as the ephod; you will make it of gold, violet-purple, red-purple and crimson materials and finely woven linen.

¹⁶ It must be square and doubled over, a span in length and a span in width.

¹⁷ In it you will set four rows of stones: a sard, topaz and emerald for the first row;

¹⁸ for the second row, a garnet, sapphire and diamond;

¹⁹ for the third row, a hyacinth, a ruby and an amethyst;

²⁰ and for the fourth row, a beryl, a cornelian and a jasper. These must be mounted in gold settings.

²¹ The stones will correspond to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve like their names, engraved like seals, each with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

²² For the breastplate you will make chains of pure gold twisted like cords,

²³ and on the breastplate you will make two gold rings, putting the two rings on the two outside edges of the breastplate

²⁴ and fastening the two gold cords to the two rings on the outside edges of the breastplate.

²⁵ The other two ends of the cords you will fasten to the two rosettes, putting these on the shoulder-straps of the ephod, on the front.

²⁶ You will also make two gold rings and put them on the two edges of the breastplate, on the inner side, against the ephod;

²⁷ and you will make two gold rings and put them low down on the front of the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod, close to the join, above the waistband of the ephod.

²⁸ The breastplate will be secured by a violet-purple cord passed through its rings and those of the ephod, so that the breastplate will sit above the waistband and not come apart from the ephod.

²⁹ Thus Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgement, on his heart, when he enters the sanctuary, as a reminder, before Yahweh, always.

³⁰ To the breastplate of judgement you will add the urim and the thummim, and these will be on Aaron's heart when he goes into Yahweh's presence, and Aaron will bear the Israelites' judgement on his heart, in Yahweh's presence, always.

³¹ 'You will make the robe of the ephod entirely of violet-purple.

³² In the centre it will have an opening for the head, the opening to have round it a border woven like the neck of a coat of mail, so that it will not get torn.

³³ On its lower hem, you will make pomegranates of violet-purple, red-purple and crimson, and finely woven linen all round the hem, with golden bells between them all round:

³⁴ a golden bell and then a pomegranate, alternately, all round the lower hem of the robe.

³⁵ Aaron must wear it when he officiates, and the tinkling will be heard when he goes into the sanctuary into Yahweh's presence, or leaves it, and so he will not incur death.

³⁶ 'You will make a flower of pure gold and on it, as you would engrave a seal, you will engrave, "Consecrated to Yahweh".

³⁷ You will put it on a violet-purple cord; it will go on the turban; the front of the turban is the place where it must go.

³⁸ This will go on Aaron's brow, and Aaron will thus take on himself the short-comings in the holy things consecrated by the Israelites, in all their holy offerings. It will be on his brow permanently, to make them acceptable to Yahweh.

³⁹ The tunic you will weave of fine linen, and make a turban of fine linen, and an embroidered waistband.

⁴⁰ 'For the sons of Aaron you will make tunics and waistbands. You will also make them head-dresses to give dignity and magnificence.

⁴¹ You will dress your brother Aaron and his sons in these; you will then anoint them, invest them and consecrate them to serve me in the priesthood.

⁴² You will also make them linen breeches reaching from waist to thigh, to cover their bare flesh.

⁴³ Aaron and his sons will wear these when they go into the Tent of Meeting and when they approach the altar to serve in the sanctuary, as a precaution against incurring mortal guilt. This is a perpetual decree for Aaron and for his descendants after him.'

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