Thematic Bible: A sacred vestment worn by the high priest


Thematic Bible



“For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics and sashes and [ornamental] caps, for glory and honor and beauty.

Next Moses brought Aaron’s sons forward, put undertunics on them, belted them with sashes, and bound caps on them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them.

And they made tunics of finely woven linen for Aaron and his sons,

You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them;

So they came forward and carried them, still in their undertunics, outside the camp, as Moses had said.


onyx stones and setting stones for the [priest’s] ephod and for the breastpiece.

And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen, skillfully woven and worked. It shall have two shoulder straps to join the two [back and front] edges, that it may be held together. The skillfully woven girding band which is on the ephod shall be made of the same, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen. read more.
And you shall take two onyx or beryl stones and engrave on them the names of the twelve sons of Israel; Six of their names on one stone and the six names of the rest on the other stone, arranged in order of their birth. With the work of a stone engraver, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel. You shall have them set in sockets or rosettes of gold. And you shall put the two stones upon the [two] shoulder straps of the ephod [of the high priest] as memorial stones for Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names upon his two shoulders as a memorial before the Lord. And you shall make sockets or rosettes of gold for settings, And two chains of pure gold, like cords shall you twist them, and fasten the corded chains to the settings.

Make the robe [to be worn beneath] the ephod all of blue. There shall be a hole in the center of it [to slip over the head], with a binding of woven work around the hole, like the opening in a coat of mail or a garment, that it may not fray or tear. And you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff] around about its skirts, with gold bells between them; read more.
A gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, round about on the skirts of the robe. Aaron shall wear the robe when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes [alone] into the Holy of Holies before the Lord and when he comes out, lest he die there.


Gideon made [all the golden earrings into] an ephod [a sacred, high priest’s garment], and put it in his city of Ophrah, and all Israel worshiped it as an idol there, and it became a trap for Gideon and his household.

Now the man Micah had a house of gods (shrine), and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicated and installed one of his sons, who became his [personal] priest.

Then the five men who had gone to scout the country of Laish said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, an image [of silver-plated wood], and a cast image [of solid silver]? Now therefore, consider what you should do.”


But David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”

Then David asked, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” The Lord said, “They will surrender you.”

David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray you, bring me the ephod. And Abiathar brought him the ephod. And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? The Lord answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.


You shall make for the breastplate chains of pure gold twisted like cords. You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold and put [them] on the two edges of the breastplate. And you shall put the two twisted, cordlike chains of gold in the two rings which are on the edges of the breastplate. read more.
The other two ends of the two twisted, cordlike chains you shall fasten in the two sockets or rosettes in front, putting them on the shoulder straps of the ephod; And make two rings of gold and put them at the two ends of the breastplate on its inside edge next to the ephod. Two gold rings you shall make and attach them to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod in front, close by where they join, above the skillfully woven girdle or band of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the skillfully woven girding band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not become loose from the ephod. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them in continual remembrance before the Lord.


And Bezalel made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen. And they beat the gold into thin sheets and cut it into wires to work into the blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff] and the fine linen, in skilled design. They made shoulder pieces for the ephod, joined to it at its two edges. read more.
And the skillfully woven band on it, to gird it on, was of the same piece and workmanship with it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And they prepared the onyx stones enclosed in settings of gold filigree and engraved as signets are engraved with the names of the sons of Israel. And he put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod to be stones of memorial or remembrance for the Israelites, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And [Bezalel] made the breastplate skillfully, like the work of the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen. The breastplate was a [hand's] span square when doubled over. And they set in it four rows of stones; a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle made the first row; The second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; The third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; And the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they were enclosed in settings of gold filigree. There were twelve stones with their names according to those of the sons of Israel, engraved like a signet, each with its name, according to the twelve tribes. And they made [at the ends] of the breastplate twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. And they made two settings of gold filigree and two gold rings which they put on the two ends of the breastplate. And they put the two twisted cords or woven chains of gold in the two rings on the end edges of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the twisted cords or chains of gold they put on the two settings and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, in front. They made two rings of gold and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the inside edge of it next to the ephod. And they made two [other] gold rings and attached them to the two shoulder pieces of the ephod underneath, in front, at its joining above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. They bound the breastplate by its rings to those of the ephod with a blue lace, that it might lie upon the skillfully woven band of the ephod and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work all of blue. And there was an opening [for the head] in the middle of the robe like the hole in a coat of mail, with a binding around it, that it should not be torn. On the skirts of the robe they made pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet [stuff] and twined linen. And they made bells of pure gold and put [them] between the pomegranates around the skirts of the robe; A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about on the skirts of the robe for ministering, as the Lord commanded Moses.


So the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests, and that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the [priest’s] linen ephod.


Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a child dressed in a linen ephod [a sacred item of priestly clothing].


And David was dancing before the Lord with great enthusiasm, and David was wearing a linen ephod [a priest’s upper garment].


The skillfully woven sash with which to bind it, which was on the ephod [to hold it in place], was like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold and of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.


For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod or teraphim (household idols).