What Does Exodus 28:24 Mean?
And you will set the two braided cords of gold in the two rings which are at the ends of the breastpiece.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate.THE KEY
The word behind “wreathen chains” also names the cords that bind Samson, revealing a working fastener inside the goldwork.
THE MEANING
What is carried close to the heart is anchored at both ends through joined strands and fixed rings. The verse makes carrying a matter of connection: the breastplate stays in place because its links are secured.
THE ROOT
עֲבֹתֹת
ʿavotot
GROWS FROM
עבת
ʿavat
Twist or interweave into a cord.
The word translated “wreathen chains” carries the sense of twisting strands into a cord. The same root names ropes used to restrain Samson, making the chain’s binding force visible beneath the goldwork.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavat: To twist, braid, or interweave.
עָבַת
The verb names the joining action contained in the twisted chains: separate strands become one fastening.
ʿavotim: Cords or ropes.
עֲבֹתִים
This form names the cords that bind Samson, showing that the word carries the practical force of a restraint as well as a fastening.
הַטַּבָּעֹת
hatabbaot
GROWS FROM
טבע
ṭavaʿ
Sink or press down into a surface.
The Hebrew word for rings shares a root with the verb for sinking or pressing down. Here, that link makes the ring a set point where the chain is fastened, rather than a free-floating loop.
ALSO GROWS
ṭabbaʿat: A ring, often a signet ring.
טַבַּעַת
The singular form names the fixed loop that receives the chain and holds its endpoint.
ṭavaʿ: To sink or drown.
טָבַע
The shared root ties the ring to a sense of being pressed or set into place, giving the fastening a tangible point of contact.
THE PATTERN
What is carried securely is held through joined strands attached to stable points.
You will set the two ends of the two braided cords in the two settings, and set them on the shoulders of the ephod, toward its face.And if one overpowers him, two will stand against him, and a threefold cord is not quickly torn.and not gripping the head, from whom the whole body, being fed through its joints and bonds, and being joined together, grows with the growth of God.THE THREAD
And they spoke to him, saying, No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hand, but surely we will not kill you. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.The “cords” are עֲבֹתִים (ʿavotim), from the same root as the breastplate’s “wreathen chains.” Here the cords restrain Samson; in Exodus they anchor what is carried over the heart, revealing the binding force inside the ornament.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us