What Does Exodus 35:27 Mean?
And the raised ones brought onyx stones, and stones of filling for the ephod, and for 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 the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate;THE KEY
The rulers are the lifted ones, from a root that also means to carry, and here they bring stones fitted into the priestly breastpiece.
THE MEANING
The lifted ones bring what fills the settings in the ephod and breastplate. The verse shows those with standing taking a place in the work of forming a larger whole.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that those with standing remain outside the work: here the lifted ones contribute what completes the garment.
THE ROOT
הַנְּשִׂאִם
han-nesi'im
GROWS FROM
נשא
nasa
To lift, carry, or bear.
“raised ones” in this verse is han-nesi'im. The word for rulers carries the sense of those who have been lifted up. Its root also means to carry, so the verse links elevation with bearing a contribution into the shared work.
ALSO GROWS
nasi: A ruler or prince; literally, one lifted up.
נָשִׂיא
This is the singular form behind “rulers,” making their elevated position visible in the word itself.
massa: A load or burden; something carried.
מַשָּׂא
This branch from the same root connects being lifted up with what one bears.
מִלֻּאִים
millu'im
GROWS FROM
מלא
male
To be full, fill, or make complete.
The Hebrew calls these “stones of filling”: they fill the settings in the breastpiece. Their place in the garment is part of what makes it complete.
ALSO GROWS
male: To be full or to fill.
מָלֵא
This verb gives the setting stones their underlying sense: they fill prepared places.
melo: Fullness or the whole amount.
מְלֹא
This noun from the same root echoes the completeness made visible when each stone occupies its place.
THE PATTERN
A sacred whole is formed as distinct gifts take their prepared places.
And they came, every one whose heart lifted him, and every one whom his breath made free-hearted, and they brought the LORD's lifted offering for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its serving, and for the set-apart garments.And those with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the LORD, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite.You also, as living stones, are built up into a house of breath, a set-apart priesthood, to carry up sacrifices of breath, well received by God through Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And you will fill it with stone in four rows. The first row will be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle; this will be the first row.Exodus 28 uses the same מלא (male, “fill”) word-family for the breastpiece’s stone settings. The stones brought here are fillings fitted into prepared places, completing the form.
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