Exodus 28–29

CHAPTER 28

The Priests’ Garments

¹“Now as for you, ^abring near to yourself Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, to minister as priests to Me—Aaron, ^bNadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.

²“You shall make ^aholy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.

³“You shall speak to all those ^1awise at heart ^bwhom I have filled with ²the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to set him apart as holy, in order for him to minister as priest to Me.

⁴“These are the garments which they shall make: a ^1abreastpiece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban and a sash, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, in order for him to minister as priest to Me.

⁵“They shall take ^athe gold and the ¹blue and the purple and the scarlet material and the fine linen.

⁶“They shall also make ^athe ephod of gold, of ¹blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of the skillful designer.

⁷“It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its two ends, that it may be joined.

⁸“The skillfully woven band, which is on it, shall be like its workmanship, ¹of the same material: of gold, of ²blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen.

⁹“You 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 second stone, according to their birth.

¹¹“¹As a jeweler engraves a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel; you shall set them all around in filigree settings of gold.

¹²“You shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, and Aaron shall ^abear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulders ^bfor remembrance.

¹³“^aYou shall make filigree settings of gold,

¹⁴and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them a twisted work of cords, and you shall put the chains of cords on the filigree settings.

¹⁵“^aYou shall make a ¹breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skillful designer; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, of ²blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen you shall make it.

¹⁶“It shall be square, having been folded double, a ¹span ²in length and a ³span in width.

¹⁷“You shall ¹mount on it four rows of stones; the first row shall be a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald;

¹⁸and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;

¹⁹and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;

²⁰and the fourth row a beryl and an onyx and a jasper; they shall be ¹set in gold settings.

²¹“The stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, according to their names; they shall be like the engravings of a signet, each ^aaccording to his name for the twelve tribes.

²²“You shall make on the ¹breastpiece chains of a twisted work of cords in pure gold.

²³“You shall make on the breastpiece two rings of gold, and you shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece.

²⁴“You shall put the two cords of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece.

²⁵“You shall put the two ends of the two cords on the two filigree settings, and you shall put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it.

²⁶“You shall make two rings of gold and shall place them on the two ends of the breastpiece, on the edge of it, which is toward the inner side of the ephod.

²⁷“You shall make two rings of gold and put them on the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, on the front of it close to the place where it is joined, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod.

²⁸“They shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a ¹blue cord, so that it will be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpiece will not come loose from the ephod.

²⁹“Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment over his heart when he comes into the holy place, for a remembrance before Yahweh continually.

³⁰“^aYou shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the ^1bUrim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he comes in before Yahweh; and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before Yahweh continually.

³¹“^aYou shall make the robe of the ephod entirely of ¹blue.

³²“There shall be an opening ¹at its top in the middle of it; around the edge of its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn.

³³“You shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, all around on its hem, and bells of gold between them all around:

³⁴a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe.

³⁵“It shall be on Aaron ¹when he ministers; and its sound shall be heard when he comes into the holy place before Yahweh and when he goes out, so that he will not die.

³⁶“You shall also make ^aa plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘^bHoly to Yahweh.’

³⁷“You shall ¹fasten it on a ²blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban.

³⁸“It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall ^1atake away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel set apart as holy, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall continually be on his forehead, that ^bthey may be accepted before Yahweh.

³⁹“You shall weave ^athe tunic of checkered work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of a ¹weaver.

⁴⁰“For Aaron’s sons you shall make ^atunics; you shall also make sashes for them, and you shall make ^1bcaps for them, for glory and for beauty.

⁴¹“You shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him; and you shall ^aanoint them and ¹ordain them and set them apart as holy, that they may minister to Me as priests.

⁴²“You shall make for them ^alinen undergarments to cover their bare flesh; they shall ¹reach from the loins even to the thighs.

⁴³“They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tent of meeting or ^awhen they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur ¹guilt and die. ^bIt shall be a perpetual statute to him and to his seed after him.

CHAPTER 29

Setting Apart the Priests

¹“^aNow this is ¹what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish,

²and ^aunleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers ¹spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour.

³“And you shall put them in one basket and bring them near in the basket along with the bull and the two rams.

⁴“Then ^ayou shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

⁵“And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the ^atunic and ^bthe robe of the ephod and ^cthe ephod and ^dthe ¹breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully ^ewoven band of the ephod;

⁶and you shall set the ^aturban on his head and put ^bthe holy crown on the turban.

⁷“Then you shall take ^athe anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

⁸“And you shall bring his sons near and put ^atunics on them.

⁹“You shall gird them with ^asashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind ¹caps on them, and they shall have ^bthe priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ^2cordain Aaron and his sons.

Slaughtering the Offerings

¹⁰“Then you shall bring the bull near before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall ^alay their hands on the head of the bull.

¹¹“You shall slaughter the bull before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

¹²“You shall ^atake some of the blood of the bull and put it on ^bthe horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar.

¹³“You shall ^atake all the fat that covers the entrails and the ¹lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and you shall offer them up in smoke on the altar.

¹⁴“But ^athe flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

¹⁵“^aYou shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram;

¹⁶and you shall slaughter the ram, and you shall take its blood and splash it around on the altar.

¹⁷“Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them ¹with its pieces and ²its head.

¹⁸“You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to Yahweh: ^ait is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahweh.

¹⁹“Then ^ayou shall take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

²⁰“You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and splash the rest of the blood around on the altar.

²¹“Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the ^aanointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be set apart as holy, as well as his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

²²“You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails and the ¹lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ²ordination),

²³and one cake of bread and ^aone cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before Yahweh;

²⁴and you shall put ¹all these ²in the ³hands of Aaron and ⁴in the ⁵hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh.

²⁵“^aYou shall take them from their hands and offer them up in smoke on the altar…