Exodus 39:8-21

New Catholic Bible

The Breastplate. ⁸ He made the breastplate like the ephod, with fine workmanship. It was made of gold, blue, purple and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen. ⁹ It was square and doubled over, a span in length and a span in width. ¹⁰ They covered it with settings of precious stones arranged in four rows. The first row had a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald. ¹¹ The second row had a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond. ¹² The third row had a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. ¹³ The fourth row had a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were set in gold filigree settings. ¹⁴ The stones corresponded to the names of the children of Israel. There were twelve, standing for their names. They were engraved like the engraving of a signet ring, each name corresponding to a name of one of the twelve tribes.

¹⁵ They made chains of pure gold on the breastplate in the shape of twisted cords. ¹⁶ They also made two filigree settings of gold and two golden rings and placed the two rings at the two edges of the breastplate. ¹⁷ They attached the two golden chains to the two rings at the edges of the breastplate. ¹⁸ They attached the other ends of the chains to the two filigree settings and they thus attached it to the front part of the shoulder pieces of the ephod. ¹⁹ They made two other golden rings and placed them on the two edges of the breastplate, on its inside edge, next to the ephod. ²⁰ They made two other golden rings and placed them on the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at their bottom on the front side, next to the place where it is attached to the skillfully woven band of the ephod.

²¹ Other Priestly Vestments. They then tied the breastplate with its rings to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue material so that it might lie upon the skillfully woven band of the ephod and that the breastplate might not pull away from the ephod, as the Lord had commanded Moses.