The Bible

Exodus Chapter 28

¹Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, so he can minister to me in the priest's office: Aaron, with Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. ²Make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. ³Tell all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, to make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, so he can minister to me in the priest's office. ⁴These are the garments they're to make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, so he can minister to me in the priest's office. ⁵They are to use the gold, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.

⁶they should make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of a skillful workman. ⁷Let it 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, will be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. ⁹Take 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, engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel. Make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. ¹²Put the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be memorial stones for the children of Israel. Aaron will carry their names on his two shoulders in Yahweh's presence as a memorial. ¹³Make settings of gold, ¹⁴and make two chains of pure gold like cords of braided work. Put the braided chains on the settings.

¹⁵Make a breastplate of judgment, the work of a skillful workman; make it like the work of the ephod. Make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. ¹⁶Let it be square and folded double; a span long, and a span wide. ¹⁷Set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: the first row will be a row of ruby, topaz, and beryl; ¹⁸and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, 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. Enclose them in gold in their settings. ²¹The stones are to 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, let them be for the twelve tribes. ²²Make pure gold chains like cords of braided work on the breastplate. ²³Make two rings of gold on the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. ²⁴Put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. ²⁵Put the [other] two ends on the two settings of the two braided chains, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod on its front. ²⁶Make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is toward the inner side of the ephod. ²⁷Make two [more] rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, on its front, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²⁸They are to bind the breastplate by its rings 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 will carry the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, as a memorial in Yahweh's presence continually. ³⁰Put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate of judgment; and they'll be on Aaron's heart when he goes in to Yahweh's presence. Aaron will carry the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart in Yahweh's presence continually.

³¹Make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³²Let it have a hole for the head in the middle of it. Let it have a binding of woven work around its hole, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it not be torn. ³³On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and of scarlet, all around its hem; with bells of gold between and around them: ³⁴a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. ³⁵It will be on Aaron to minister. Its sound will be heard when he goes in to the holy place of Yahweh's presence, and when he comes out, so he won't die.

³⁶Make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, 'Holy to Yahweh.' ³⁷Put it on a lace of blue, and place on the sash. It will be on the front of the sash. ³⁸It will be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron will bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel will make holy in all their holy gifts; and it must always be on his forehead, so they can be accepted in Yahweh's presence. ³⁹Weave the tunic with fine linen. Make a turban of fine linen, and a sash, the work of an embroiderer.

⁴⁰Make tunics for Aaron's sons. Make sashes and headbands for them, for glory and for beauty. ⁴¹Put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, so they can minister to me in the priest's office. ⁴²Make them linen undershorts to cover their nakedness. Make them cover from the waist to the thighs. ⁴³They must 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, so they don't bear iniquity, and die. This will be a statute forever to him and to his offspring after him.