What Does Exodus 28:22 Mean?

And you will make on the breastpiece cords at its ends, of braided work, of pure gold.

Exodus 28:22 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold.

THE KEY

The breastpiece is fastened with gold shaped into cordwork: the ornament itself is the bond.

THE MEANING

What is held over your heart is secured by chains of pure gold shaped as twisted cordwork. The strands joined together are not just a finish; they form the fastening.

THE ROOT

עֲבֹת

avot

GROWS FROM

עבת

ʿāḇaṯ

To braid, interlace, or form into a cord.

“braided” in this verse is avot. The word carries the image of strands twisted together into cords. The same root names cords used for binding, so the chains here are not merely decorative: their corded form is also their fastening.

ALSO GROWS

avotim: Cords or twisted ropes.

עֲבֹתִים

Judges 15:13 uses this form for the cords that bind Samson, showing the same corded form serving as a fastening.

avoteimo: Their cords.

עֲבֹתֵימוֹ

In Psalm 2:3, this form names cords spoken of as bonds, further showing how the twisted strands bind.

THE PATTERN

Joined strands turn separate threads into a bond that holds.

And you will make two cords of pure gold at the ends, of braided work, and set the braided cords on the settings.

Exodus 28:14 · SDVThe chains are made of corded work and fastened to the breastpiece, making the joined strands part of what holds it in place.

And if one overpowers him, two will stand against him, and a threefold cord is not quickly torn.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 · SDVThe verse shows how strands joined into a cord make a bond harder to break.

And over all these, put on love, which is the ligament of completeness.

Colossians 3:14 · SDVLove is named as a bond that holds things together, extending the pattern from corded material to relationship.

THE THREAD

Let us tear their bonds apart, and throw their cords off us.

Psalm 2:3 · SDV

The word rendered “cords” here comes from the same Hebrew root as “wreathen” in Exodus: both name strands twisted into cords. Exodus shows that form securing the breastpiece; Psalm 2 describes cords as bonds to be broken, revealing the binding force carried by the same root.

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