What Does Exodus 28:4 Mean?
These are the garments they will make, a breastpiece, and an ephod, and a robe, and an interlaced tunic, a turban, and a sash. They will make set-apart garments for Aaron your brother, and for his sons, so that he may serve me as priest.
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 these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.THE KEY
The priest’s set-apart role takes visible form in what he wears and the service he carries.
THE MEANING
Service before God takes an embodied form: the priest is clothed for the work. The many pieces come together as garments set apart for a particular purpose, making his priestly role visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that service is only inward or invisible: here, the priest’s role is embodied in what he wears.
THE ROOT
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
To set apart, distinguish, or reserve for a particular use.
“set-apart garments” in this verse is qodesh. קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, set-apartness) describes the garments’ relation to the priest’s service: they mark him as set apart for God. The same root appears in מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, sanctuary), linking set-apart clothing with a set-apart place.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; holy
קָדוֹשׁ
The same root describes the priest’s set-apart role, not only his garments.
miqdash: Sanctuary; set-apart place
מִקְדָּשׁ
It connects the clothing set apart for service with the place set apart for God.
לְכַהֲנוֹ
lekhahano
GROWS FROM
כהן
To serve or officiate as a priest.
“serve me as priest” in this verse is lekhahano. The Hebrew phrase translated “minister in the priest’s office” uses one verb from כהן (k-h-n, priestly service). The word-family holds the service, the person, and the office together: the priest’s role is expressed through the work he carries out.
ALSO GROWS
kohen: Priest
כֹּהֵן
Names the person who carries out the service described by the verb.
kehunah: Priesthood; priestly office
כְּהֻנָּה
Names the role or office expressed in the priest’s act of service.
THE PATTERN
Set-apart service takes visible form through what is placed on a person and the role that person carries.
And you will make set-apart garments for Aaron your brother, for weight and for adornment.I will exult greatly in the LORD; my living soul shall leap in my God; for he has clothed me in garments of deliverance, he has wrapped me in the robe of alignment, as a bridegroom dons a headdress, and as a bride binds on her jewels.But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people made his own, so that you may tell out the excellences of the one who called you out of darkness into his wondrous light.THE THREAD
And you shall be to me a governance of priests and a set-apart nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.The same Hebrew roots appear here: כֹּהֵן (kohen, priest) and קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, set apart). Exodus 28:4 clothes an individual for priestly service; Exodus 19:6 extends priestly identity and set-apartness to a whole people.
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