Exodus 28:2-12

2 Make priestly garments for your brother Aaron, to provide him with dignity and beauty.
3 Call all the skilled workers to whom I have given ability, and tell them to make Aaron's clothes, so that he may be dedicated as a priest in my service.
4 Tell them to make a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, an embroidered shirt, a turban, and a sash. They are to make these priestly garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so that they can serve me as priests.
5 The skilled workers are to use blue, purple, and red wool, gold thread, and fine linen.
6 "They are to make the ephod of blue, purple, and red wool, gold thread, and fine linen, decorated with embroidery.
7 Two shoulder straps, by which it can be fastened, are to be attached to the sides.
8 A finely woven belt made of the same materials is to be attached to the ephod so as to form one piece with it.
9 Take two carnelian stones and engrave on them the names of the twelve sons of Jacob,
10 in the order of their birth, with six on one stone and six on the other.
11 Have a skillful jeweler engrave on the two stones the names of the sons of Jacob, and mount the stones in gold settings.
12 Put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. In this way Aaron will carry their names on his shoulders, so that I, the Lord, will always remember my people.

Exodus 28:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 28

This chapter informs us of the servants God would have to minister to him in the house, or tabernacle, he had ordered to be made, even Aaron and his sons, Ex 28:1 of the garments they were to wear in their service, Ex 28:2-5 and first of the garments of the high priest, and particularly of the ephod, with the girdle, on the shoulder pieces of which were to be two onyx stones, with the names of the children of Israel engraved on them, Ex 28:6-14, and that of the breastplate of judgment, with the Urim and Thummum in it, Ex 28:15-30 and of the robe of the ephod, Ex 28:31-35, and of the mitre, Ex 28:36-39 and then of the garments of the common priests, Ex 28:40-43.

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.