Bible chapter guide

Exodus 28

The holy garments for Aaron and his sons, 'for glory and for beauty': the ephod with two onyx stones bearing the tribes' names, the breastpiece with twelve stones and the Urim and Thummim, the blue robe with bells and pomegranates, and the gold plate 'Holy to the LORD'.

Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.

What happens in this chapter

God tells Moses to bring Aaron and his four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, near to serve as priests, and to have skilled workers make Aaron clothes "for glory and for beauty". Most of the chapter is the high priest's dress, piece by piece: the ephod with an onyx stone on each shoulder carrying six tribal names, the square breastpiece with twelve stones in four rows and the Urim and Thummim inside it, the blue robe hung with gold bells and pomegranates, and a gold plate tied to the front of the turban. The text says what the clothes are for: Aaron carries Israel's names on his shoulders and over his heart whenever he goes in before the LORD. The ordinary priests get tunics, sashes, headbands and linen undergarments.

What the lab shows, and where to look

This chapter has its own lab, The Priests' Garments, which builds each piece in 3D and lets you switch between the high priest's set and the ordinary priests'. Start with the high priest and open the ephod: its shape is not given in the text, so the lab offers two reconstructions to compare. On the breastpiece, tap a stone to see which minerals have been proposed and why ruby and diamond are unlikely. The Urim and Thummim are drawn as nothing at all, only a dashed outline of the pocket they were kept in. The robe's 24 bells are an artistic count, and the gold plate is lettered in the later square script.

Questions people ask

What were the Urim and Thummim?

The text says only that they were put in the breastpiece and were on Aaron's heart when he went in before the LORD (28:30). Most modern scholars take them as two lots giving a yes or a no, helped by the longer Greek text of 1 Samuel 14:41; Josephus says the breastpiece stones shone before a victory (Antiquities 3.216–218), and the Talmud that letters on the stones stood out to spell the answer (Yoma 73b); many commentators leave the question open. Nothing of their form is known.

Plausible

What were the twelve stones of the breastpiece?

Exodus names them in Hebrew, four rows of three, each engraved with a tribe's name (28:17–21). Most of the Hebrew words occur only in lists like this one, so the English and Chinese names are guesses. The Greek translation gives one set of identifications, and students of ancient gems point out that ruby and diamond were not yet cut or engraved, so other stones are likelier. Which tribe's name went on which stone is not said either.

Plausible

Why did the high priest's robe have bells?

The text gives the reason: the sound was to be heard when Aaron went into the holy place and when he came out, "that he die not" (28:35). It explains no further; later readers suggested the sound announced him or told the people he was still alive inside, but those are interpretations. The number of bells is not given; the Talmud gives 72, with one rabbi saying 36 (Zevachim 88b), and the lab draws 24.

Textually stated

See it in the Labs

How sure can we be?

Textually stated
The priests wear linen tunics, sashes, caps and linen breeches.
Stated directly in the text. The tunics are drawn white, the colour of undyed linen.
Textually stated
How the gold was made into thread is stated.
Strongly supported
Ketonet means a tunic, not an outer coat or cloak.
Consistent usage across the Hebrew Bible for an inner garment worn by laypeople and priests.
Strongly supported
A kĕtōnet was a tunic, the basic garment worn against the body.
God clothes Adam and Eve in kotnôt of skin, the priests wear a linen kĕtōnet under their robes, and Tamar wears one in 2 Samuel 13.
Strongly supported
"A broidered coat" or 「雜色的內袍」?: KJV reads "a broidered coat" and "thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen"; the 和合本 reads 「雜色的內袍」 and 「用雜色細麻線織內袍」, a many-coloured tunic. The Hebrew describes a kind of weave; Ellicott, Barnes, Keil and Delitzsch and the Cambridge Bible read it as checked or diaper work in threads of one colour. See "Competing views".
Strongly supported
Linen, and from the waist to the thighs, is stated; the cut is a simple guess.

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King James Version (KJV) Chinese Union Version, 1919 (Wikisource)