Exodus 39:8-21

New English Translation

The Breastpiece of Decision

⁸ He made the breastpiece, the work of an artistic designer, in the same fashion as the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine twisted linen. ⁹ It was square—they made the breastpiece doubled, nine inches long and nine inches wide when doubled. ¹⁰ They set on it^[a] four rows of stones: a row with a ruby, a topaz, and a beryl—the first row; ¹¹ and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald; ¹² and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ¹³ and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold filigree settings. ¹⁴ The stones were for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, corresponding to the number of^[b] their names. Each name corresponding to one of the twelve tribes was like the engravings of a seal.

¹⁵ They made for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold, ¹⁶ and they made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and they attached the two rings to the upper^[c] two ends of the breastpiece. ¹⁷ They attached the two gold chains to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece; ¹⁸ the other^[d] two ends of the two chains they attached to the two settings, and they attached them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. ¹⁹ They made two rings of gold and put them on the other^[e] two ends of the breastpiece on its edge, which is on the inner side of the ephod.^{[f] 20} They made two more^[g] gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the juncture above the waistband of the ephod. ²¹ They tied the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod by blue cord, so that it was above the waistband of the ephod, so that the breastpiece would not be loose from the ephod, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.