Chapter 28

¹“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. ²You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. ³You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. ⁴These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. ⁵They shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.

⁶“They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman. ⁷It shall have two shoulder straps joined to the two ends of it, that it may be joined together. ⁸The skillfully woven band, which is on it, that is on him, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. ⁹You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel: ¹⁰six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, in the order of their birth. ¹¹With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shall you engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel: you shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. ¹²You shall put the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulders for a memorial. ¹³You shall make settings of gold, ¹⁴and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them like cords of braided work: and you shall put the braided chains on the settings.

¹⁵“You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shall you make it. ¹⁶It shall be square and folded double; a span³⁹³⁹A span is the length from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is stretched out (about 9 inches or 22.8 cm.) shall be its length of it, and a span its breadth. ¹⁷You shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of ruby, topaz, and beryl shall be the first row; ¹⁸and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire⁴⁰⁴⁰or, lapis lazuli, and an emerald; ¹⁹and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ²⁰and the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be enclosed in gold in their settings. ²¹The stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes. ²²You shall make on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold. ²³You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. ²⁴You shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. ²⁵The other two ends of the two braided chains you shall put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the forepart of it. ²⁶You shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. ²⁷You shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, in the forepart of it, close by the coupling of it, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²⁸They shall bind the breastplate by the rings of it to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not swing out from the ephod. ²⁹Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Yahweh continually. ³⁰You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before Yahweh: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before Yahweh continually.

³¹“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³²It shall have a hole for the head in the midst of it: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it not be torn. ³³On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, around its hem; and bells of gold between them round about: ³⁴a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe round about. ³⁵It shall be on Aaron to minister: and the sound of it shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before Yahweh, and when he comes out, that he not die.

³⁶“You shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘HOLY TO YAHWEH.’ ³⁷You shall put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be on the sash; on the front of the sash it shall be. ³⁸It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall make holy in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. ³⁹You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer.

⁴⁰“You shall make coats for Aaron’s sons, and you shall make sashes for them and headbands shall you make for them, for glory and for beauty. ⁴¹You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. ⁴²You shall make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the waist even to the thighs they shall reach: ⁴³They shall be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they go in to the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they don’t bear iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.