Beginning

Special clothes for the priests

28 Bring your brother Aaron and his sons from among the other Israelites. They will serve me as my priests. That will be Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ² Make special clothes for Aaron. They will be beautiful clothes to show that he deserves honour. ³ I have given special skills to some workers so that they know how to make beautiful things. Tell them to make clothes for Aaron. They will show that I have chosen him to serve me as my priest. ⁴ These are the clothes that they must make:

They must make these special clothes for your brother Aaron and for his sons. Then Aaron and his sons will serve me as my priests. ⁵ The workers who have special skills must use beautiful material that is gold, blue, purple and red, as well as good linen.

The ephod

⁶ Use gold, blue, purple and red material, as well as good linen, to make the ephod. A worker should use special skills to make it so that it looks beautiful. ⁷ Fix pieces of cloth on its two edges. These will go over the priest's shoulders to join the front and the back parts of the ephod. ⁸ Make a beautiful belt to tie around the ephod. The belt and the ephod must be one piece of work. Use the same materials to make both of them: gold, blue, purple and red material, and good linen.

⁹ Take two onyx stones and write on them with a sharp tool. Write the names of the sons of Israel. ¹⁰ Begin with the name of the oldest son and finish with the name of the youngest son. Write six names on one stone and six names on the other stone. ¹¹ A worker who has skill to cut letters into metal must do this work. Then fix the stones into beautiful gold around their edges. ¹² Fix the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod so that they show the names of the 12 sons of Israel. Aaron will carry the names on his shoulders as he serves the Lord. Then the Lord will remember to bless his people. ¹³ Use gold to make beautiful pieces to hold the stones. ¹⁴ And use pure gold to make two thin chains, like strings. Fix these chains to the gold pieces that hold the onyx stones.

The breastpiece

¹⁵ A worker must use special skills to make a breastpiece so that it looks beautiful. The breastpiece will help the priest to know what God is saying. Make it like the ephod. Use gold, blue, purple and red material, and good linen to make it. ¹⁶ Bend a piece of cloth over to make a square pocket, 22 centimetres long and 22 centimetres wide. ¹⁷ Then fix four rows of jewels on it. These are the names of the jewels:

Fix each jewel into beautiful gold around its edges. ²¹ There will be 12 jewels, one jewel for each of Israel's sons. You must carefully write one tribe's name on each jewel with a sharp tool.

²² Use pure gold to make two thin chains like strings. These will fix the breastpiece to the ephod. ²³ Make two gold rings and fix them to the two top corners of the breastpiece. ²⁴ Fix the two gold chains to the two rings on the corners of the breastpiece. ²⁵ Fix the other ends of the two chains to the shoulder pieces of the ephod, in the front. Join them to the gold pieces that hold the onyx stones. ²⁶ Make two gold rings and fix them to the two bottom corners of the breastpiece. Put them on its inside edge, so that they are next to the ephod. ²⁷ Make two more gold rings. Fix them to the bottom edge of the shoulder pieces, on the front of the ephod. Put them just above the ephod's belt. ²⁸ Use a string of blue material to tie the rings on the breastpiece to the rings on the ephod. Fix them together above the ephod's belt. Then the breastpiece and the belt will not become separate.

²⁹ When Aaron goes into the Holy Place, he will wear the breastpiece. So he will carry the names of Israel's sons over his heart. And the Lord will always remember to bless the Israelites. ³⁰ Put the Urim and Thummim in the pocket of the breastpiece. They will also be over Aaron's heart when he goes in there to serve the Lord. The Urim and Thummim will always be there to show Aaron what the Lord is saying about the Israelites. He will carry this help over his heart all the time.

Other clothes for the priests

³¹ Use only blue cloth to make the robe for the ephod.^{[a] 32} Make a hole in the top of the robe, in the middle. Make an edge around this hole, for the priest's head to go through. Make the edge so that it will not tear. ³³ Use blue, purple and red material to make pictures of pomegranates. Also make gold bells. The pomegranates and the bells will go all around the bottom edge of the robe. ³⁴ There will be a bell then a pomegranate, another bell then a pomegranate, all around the edge of the robe.

³⁵ Aaron must wear the robe when he is serving the Lord. The bells will make a noise when he goes into the Holy Place to serve the Lord. They will also make a sound when he comes out. Then he will not die.

³⁶ Use pure gold to make a thin plate and write on it carefully with a sharp tool. Write this sign on it: “Holy to the Lord”. ³⁷ Fix a blue string to the plate and tie it to the front of the linen hat. ³⁸ Aaron will always wear this sign on the front of his head. When the Israelites bring gifts to God, they may be guilty of sins. When Aaron has this sign on his head, he himself will be guilty instead of them. Then the Lord will accept the gifts that his people offer to him.

³⁹ Use good linen to make the long shirt and the hat for the priest. A worker with special skills must make the long belt, so that it looks beautiful.

⁴⁰ Make shirts, belts and hats for Aaron's sons. These clothes must be beautiful to give them honour.

⁴¹ Dress your brother Aaron and his sons with these clothes. Then pour oil on their heads to show that they have my authority. Make them separate from the other Israelites as my holy servants. They will serve me as my priests.

⁴² Use good linen to make trousers that will cover the lower parts of their bodies. ⁴³ Aaron and his sons must wear them when they go into the Tent of Meeting. They must also wear them when they go near to the altar to serve me in the Holy Place. Then they will not be guilty. I will not punish them with death. This will always be a rule for Aaron and his descendants.

Priests are special servants of God

29 When you make the priests God's special servants, do it in this way: Take a young bull and two male sheep. They must not have anything wrong with them. ² Use good flour from wheat to make three kinds of bread, with no yeast in it. Mix olive oil with some of the flour before you cook it. Cook some of the flour without any oil in it. And cook some flour to make biscuits that you then put oil on. ³ Put the bread and the biscuits into a basket. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting with the bull and the two sheep.^[b]

⁴ Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Use water to wash them there and make them clean. ⁵ Then take the special clothes. Dress Aaron in the shirt, the robe, the ephod and the breastpiece. Tie the ephod on him with its special belt. ⁶ Put the linen hat on Aaron's head. Fix the special gold sign to the hat. ⁷ Take the special olive oil. Pour it on his head to show that God has chosen him to be his servant.

⁸ Bring Aaron's sons and dress them in their special shirts. ⁹ Put the cloth hats on their heads. Tie the long cloth belts around Aaron and on his sons. These men and their descendants will always be priests. That is a law that continues for ever. That is how you must make Aaron and his sons God's special servants.

¹⁰ Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons must put their hands on the bull's head. ¹¹ Then kill the animal as an offering to the Lord, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ¹² Take some of the bull's blood. Use your finger to put some of it on the horns of the altar. Pour the blood that remains on the ground around the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat that is round the inside parts of the animal. Take the best part of the liver. Take both the kidneys with the fat that is round them. Burn all these things on the altar. ¹⁴ But burn the rest of the bull's body outside the camp, with its skin and the food in its stomach. It is an offering to make the priests clean from their sins.

¹⁵ Take one of the male sheep. Aaron and his sons must put their hands on its head. ¹⁶ Kill the sheep and take its blood to the altar. Throw some of the blood onto every side of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the sheep into pieces. Wash its inside parts and its legs. Then put them together with its head and the other pieces. ¹⁸ Completely burn the whole sheep on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its smell pleases him.

¹⁹ Take the second male sheep. Aaron and his sons must put their hands on its head. ²⁰ Kill the sheep. Put some of its blood on Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Do the same thing to each of his sons. Then throw some of the sheep's blood onto every side of the altar. ²¹ Mix together some of the blood on the altar and some of the special oil. Splash this onto Aaron and onto his clothes. Splash it also onto his sons and onto their clothes. Then Aaron and his sons and their clothes will be holy.

²² Take all the fat from this male sheep. Take its fat tail, the fat around its inside parts and the best part of the liver. Take the two kidneys with the fat that is round them. Also take the top part of its right leg. (This is the sheep that makes Aaron and his sons special servants of God.) ²³ Take one piece of each kind of flat bread out of the basket: bread that has no oil in it, bread with oil in it and a biscuit. These are an offering to the Lord. ²⁴ Put all these things in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Then lift these things up to the Lord as an offering to him. ²⁵ Then take them from Aaron and his sons and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its smell pleases him.

²⁶ Take the meat from the ribs of the sheep that makes Aaron God's special servant. Lift it up to the Lord as an offering to him. Then you may eat this meat from the sheep. ²⁷ You must keep separate this meat from the sheep's ribs, as well as the top part of its right leg. Those are the pieces that you lifted up to the Lord as an offering to him. Those pieces belong to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸ In the future, when the Israelites bring a peace offering to the Lord, these pieces will belong to Aaron and his descendants. This will always be the regular gift from the Israelites to the priests. That is the law that will continue for ever. It is the gift that the Israelites must bring to the Lord.

²⁹ Aaron's special clothes will belong to his descendants after he dies. When they too become God's special servants as his priests, they will wear them. ³⁰ After Aaron's death, his son who becomes priest will first take seven days to serve the Lord in the tabernacle. The new priest must wear the special clothes in the Holy Place for those seven days.

³¹ Take the male sheep that makes Aaron God's special servant. Cook its meat in a holy place in the yard of the tabernacle. ³² Aaron and his sons must eat this meat and the bread that was in the basket. They must do this at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ³³ That meat was part of the sacrifice which made them clean from their sins. It made them God's special servants as his priests. No other person may eat those things, because they are holy. ³⁴ But if any of the meat from the offerings remains until the morning, you must burn it. Also burn any bread that remains. You must not eat it, because it is holy.

³⁵ Do everything that I have commanded you, to make Aaron and his sons my special servants. Take seven days to do this. ³⁶ Kill a bull each day, as a sacrifice that makes people clean from their sins.

Also make the altar clean and pure. Pour oil over it to make it holy for me. ³⁷ Do this to the altar for seven days to make it pure. Then it will be completely holy. Anything that touches the altar will become holy too. ³⁸ You must offer a regular gift on the altar each day. This offering must be two lambs that are one year old. ³⁹ Offer one lamb in the morning and the other lamb in the evening. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb, offer two litres of good flour. Mix the flour with one litre of olive oil. Also offer one litre of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ Kill the other lamb in the evening. Offer it with the same gifts of food and drink as in the morning. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its smell pleases him.

⁴² You and your descendants must continue to make this burnt offering as a regular offering to me, the Lord. Offer it to me at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. I will meet with you there and I will speak to you. ⁴³ I will meet with the Israelites there. My bright glory will make it a holy place.

⁴⁴ In that way I will make the Tent of Meeting and its altar a special, holy place. Aaron and his sons will become my special servants. They will serve me as my priests. ⁴⁵ I will live among the Israelites and I will be their God. ⁴⁶ They will know that I am the Lord their God. I brought them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Lord their God.