What Does Exodus 39:21 Mean?
And they tied the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue, so that it would be above the skillfully woven belt of the ephod, and so that the breastplate would not be shaken loose from the ephod, as the LORD commanded Moses.
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 they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses.THE KEY
The breastplate stays in place because it is bound to the garment that carries it.
THE MEANING
The breastpiece remains above the ephod’s girdle because its rings are tied to the ephod’s rings by a blue cord. That bond keeps it from slipping free of the garment that bears it. The closing name Moshe (מֹשֶׁה, Moshe, “drawn out”) carries the image of one drawn from water.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that placement alone keeps something close: the breastplate stays joined because it is fastened to what carries it.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְשְׁרוּ
vayyiqshĕrū
GROWS FROM
קשר
q-sh-r
To bind, tie, or join.
“tied” in this verse is vayyiqshĕrū. The same root appears in Deuteronomy 6:8 for binding words as a sign to the hand and forehead. Here, the fastening is a joining that keeps the breastpiece with the garment that bears it.
ALSO GROWS
ūqĕšartām: You shall bind them.
וּקְשַׁרְתָּם
Deuteronomy 6:8 uses this form for binding words as a sign to the body, echoing the breastpiece fastened to the ephod.
qešer: Bond or alliance; in some uses, conspiracy.
קֶשֶׁר
The noun carries the same binding root into relationships and alliances, beyond a physical cord.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōsheh
GROWS FROM
משה
m-sh-h
To draw out, especially from water.
“Moses” in this verse is Mōsheh. The verse’s closing name carries its own image: Moshe is the one drawn out. Exodus 2:10 expresses this wordplay as “I drew him out of the water.”
ALSO GROWS
māšāh: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb associated with Moses’s name and the act of drawing him from the water.
məšîtihū: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in Exodus 2:10, where the drawing out of the water explains the name Moshe.
THE PATTERN
What is meant to stay joined is held in place through a binding connection.
And they will bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue, so that it will be above the skillfully woven belt of the ephod, and so that the breastpiece will not slip from the ephod.And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.from whom the whole body, joined together and knit by every joint that supplies, according to the working in the measure of each part, makes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.THE THREAD
And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.Deuteronomy uses the same Hebrew root, qashar, for binding words as a sign to the hand and forehead. The shared verb links the breastpiece’s fastening with something held close to the body and kept in view.
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