Garments for the Priests

1“ And you, bring near to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the sons of Israel, that he may minister as priest to Me—Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron. 2And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.

3And you shall speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the garments of Aaron to sanctify him, that he may minister as priest to Me. 4And these are the garments that they shall make: A breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and for his sons, that he may minister as priest to Me. 5And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet yarn, and the fine linen.

The Ephod
(Exodus 39:1–7)

6And they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely woven linen, the work of a designer. 7It shall have unto it two shoulder straps joined at the two ends, and it shall be joined. 8And the skillfully woven waistband of his ephod, that is on it, from it it shall be, according to its work: gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely woven linen.

9And you shall take two onyx stones and you shall 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 births; 11the work of an engraver of stone, engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; turned in settings of gold you shall make them. 12And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the face of YHWH on his two shoulders for a memorial.

13And you shall make settings of gold, 14and two chains of pure gold, a braided work, you shall make them cord; and you shall put the cords of chains on the settings.

The Breastpiece
(Exodus 39:8–21)

15And you shall make the breastplate of judgment, the work of a designer. You shall make it according to the workmanship of the ephod; you shall make it of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely woven linen. 16It shall be square, doubled, a span its length, and a span its width.†

17And you shall fill in it fillings of stone, four rows of stone:†

a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald are the first row;

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

19and the third row is jacinth, agate, and amethyst;

20and the fourth row is beryl, and onyx, and jasper.

They shall be set in gold in their fillings. 21And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, two and ten, according to their names, the engravings of a signet, each one according to his name, they shall be for the two and ten tribes.

22And you shall make on the breastplate chains, cords of braided work of pure gold. And you shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and you shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And you shall put the two cords of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. And the two ends of the two cords you shall put on the two settings, and you shall put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod, toward the front of its face.

And you shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge that is toward the side of the ephod inwardly.

And you shall make two rings of gold and you shall put them on the two shoulders of the ephod from below, toward its face, right at the seam above the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, to be on the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod, and the breastplate shall not come loose from on the ephod.

29And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, for a memorial before the face of YHWH continually.

30And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim,† and they shall be over the heart of Aaron when he goes in before the face of YHWH. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the face of YHWH continually.

Additional Priestly Garments
(Exodus 39:22–31)

31And you shall make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue. 32And there shall be an opening for his head in the midst of it; it shall have an edge for its opening all around, the work of a weaver, like the opening of a corselet,† it shall be that it does not tear.

33And you shall make upon its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet on its hem all around, and bells of gold in the midst of them all around, 34a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around.

35And it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the face of YHWH and when he comes out, and he shall not die.

36And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and you shall engrave on it the engravings of a signet:

HOLY TO YHWH.

37And you shall put it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be toward the front of the face of the turban. 38And it shall be on the forehead of Aaron, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel shall sanctify for all their holy gifts; and it shall be on his forehead continually, for a pleasing thing for them before the face of YHWH.

39And you shall weave the tunic of fine linen, and you shall make the turban of fine linen, and the sash you shall make, the work of a weaver. 40And for the sons of Aaron you shall make tunics, and you shall make for them sashes, and you shall make headbands for them for glory and for beauty.

41And you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him, and you shall anoint them and you shall fill their hand and you shall sanctify them, and they shall minister as priests to Me.

42And you shall make for them linen undergarments to cover naked flesh; they shall be from the waist and to the thighs. 43And they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the Holy Place, and they shall not bear iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever for him and for his seed after him.

Footnotes:

16 The breastpiece, when folded over, was approximately 9 inches or 22.9 centimeters in both length and width.
17 The precise identification of some of these gemstones is uncertain.
30 That is, Lights and Perfections
32 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain; possibly a coat of mail.