Exodus 28

Bring Harun your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among Bani-Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office, even Harun, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Harun’s sons. 2You shall make holy garments for Harun 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 Harun’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 Harun 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.

6They 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-pieces 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, you shall 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-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for Bani-Israel: and Harun shall bear their names before Allah on his two shoulders for a memorial. 13You shall make settings of gold, 14and two chains of pure gold; you make them like cords shall, of braided work: and you shall put the braided chains on the settings.

15You 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 span[1] shall be its length, and a span its width. 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 sapphire[2], 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-pieces 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-pieces 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 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. 29Harun 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 Allah continually. 30You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Harun’s heart, when he goes in before Allah: and Harun shall bear the judgment of Bani-Israel on his heart before Allah continually.

31You 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 all around 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 all around: 34a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe all around. 35It shall be on Harun to minister: and the sound of it shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before Allah, and when he comes out, that he not die.

36You shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘HOLY TO ALLAH.’ 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 Harun’s forehead, and Harun shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which Bani-Israel shall make holy in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Allah. 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.

40You shall make coats for Harun’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 Harun 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 loins even to the thighs they shall reach: 43They shall be on Harun, 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 do not bear iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.

 

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[1]28:16 A 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.)

[2] 28:18 or, lapis lazuli