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Vestments for the Priesthood

Then bring near to you your brother Aaron, and his sons with him, from among the Israelites, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²You shall make sacred vestments for the glorious adornment of your brother Aaron. ³And you shall speak to all who have ability, whom I have endowed with skill, that they make Aaron’s vestments to consecrate him for my priesthood. ⁴These are the vestments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a checkered tunic, a turban, and a sash. When they make these sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests, ⁵they shall use gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine linen.

The Ephod

⁶ They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen, skillfully worked. ⁷It shall have two shoulder-pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. ⁸The decorated band on it shall be of the same workmanship and materials, of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen. ⁹You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. ¹¹As a gem-cutter engraves signets, so you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; you shall mount them in settings of gold filigree. ¹²You shall set the two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the L ord on his two shoulders for remembrance. ¹³You shall make settings of gold filigree, ¹⁴and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

The Breastplate

¹⁵ You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work; you shall make it in the style of the ephod; of gold, of blue and purple and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen you shall make it. ¹⁶It shall be square and doubled, a span in length and a span in width. ¹⁷You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald shall be the first row; ¹⁸and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a moonstone; ¹⁹and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ²⁰and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree. ²¹There shall be twelve stones with names corresponding to the names of the sons of Israel; they shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. ²²You shall make for the breastpiece chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; ²³and you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. ²⁴You shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece; ²⁵the two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings, and so attach it in front to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod. ²⁶You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. ²⁷You shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at its joining above the decorated band of the ephod. ²⁸The breastpiece shall be bound by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it may lie on the decorated band of the ephod, and so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. ²⁹So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place, for a continual remembrance before the L ord. ³⁰In the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the L ord; thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the Israelites on his heart before the L ord continually.

Other Priestly Vestments

³¹ You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³²It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it may not be torn. ³³On its lower hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the lower hem, with bells of gold between them all around— ³⁴a golden bell and a pomegranate alternating all around the lower hem of the robe. ³⁵Aaron shall wear it when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the L ord, and when he comes out, so that he may not die.

³⁶ You shall make a rosette of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, “Holy to the L ord.” ³⁷You shall fasten it on the turban with a blue cord; it shall be on the front of the turban. ³⁸It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take on himself any guilt incurred in the holy offering that the Israelites consecrate as their sacred donations; it shall always be on his forehead, in order that they may find favor before the L ord.

³⁹ You shall make the checkered tunic of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework.

⁴⁰ For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics and sashes and headdresses; you shall make them for their glorious adornment. ⁴¹You shall put them on your brother Aaron, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. ⁴²You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh; they shall reach from the hips to the thighs; ⁴³Aaron and his sons shall wear them when they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place; or they will bring guilt on themselves and die. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

9. And thou shalt take two onyx-stones. That the connection between the priest and the people might be made more plain, God not only placed on his breast the memorials of the twelve tribes, but also engraved their names on his shoulders. Thus all occasion of envy was removed, since the people would understand that this one man was not separated from the others for the sake of private advantage, but that in his one person they were all a kingdom of priests, which Peter teaches to have been at length really fulfilled in Christ, (1 Peter 2:5;) as Isaiah had foretold that there should be priests of God, and Levites brought from the Gentiles, (Isaiah 66:21;) to which John makes allusion in the Apocalypse, where he says that we are all priests in Christ, (Revelation 1:6.) But we must remember the reason why our High Priest is said to bear us on His shoulders, for we not only crawl on earth, but we are plunged in the lowest depths of death; how then should we be able to ascend to heaven, unless the Son of God should raise us up with Him; Now, since there is no ability in us unto eternal life, but all our powers of mind and body lie prostrate, we must be borne up by His strength alone. Hence then arises our confidence of ascending to heaven, because Christ raises us up with Him; as Paul says, we “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:6;) however weak then we may be in ourselves, herein is all our strength, that we are His burden. Therefore in this old type was prefigured what Paul teaches, that the Church is “his body,” and “the fullness of him,” (Ephesians 1:22.) It remains that each of us, conscious of our own weakness, should rest on Christ; for when in foolish arrogance we exalt ourselves, we do not suffer ourselves to be lifted up by Him, to be borne and sustained by His power. Let the proud then, by lifting themselves on high, fall down in ruin, whilst Christ supports us upon His shoulders. These stones are called “stones of memorial;” and again, “for a memorial” to the children of Israel; as is also afterwards repeated of the twelve stones; which some expound, that “God may be mindful of the children of Israel;” others, that “the priest himself may remember them;” others, that “the children of Israel may remember that God is reconciled to them for the sake of the one Mediator;” but I simply interpret it, that they were a monument of the mutual agreement between God and them; as if God would shew by a visible sign that He embraced them and received them into His sanctuary, as often as they were offered in this manner.

30. And thou shalt put in the breastplate. From these words some infer that the Urim and Thummim were distinct from the whole work, which is before described; others think that they were the twelve stones, because no mention will be made of them when Moses relates that the whole was completed. But nothing is more probable, as I have already said, than that on the breastplate itself some representation was given of light in doctrine, and of entire uprightness of life; and therefore after Moses has called it “the breastplate of judgment,” he also speaks of it as “the judgment of the children of Israel;” by which expression he means a certain and defined system, or an absolutely perfect rule, to which the children of Israel ought to direct and conform themselves.