What Does Exodus 28:40 Mean in the King James?
And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The garments carry the weight of the sons’ service and make its dignity visible.
THE MEANING
Your service has a visible shape; what surrounds it can carry its weight and beauty. The verse presents the sons’ garments as part of how their calling is seen, not as decoration detached from it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that outward things are always superficial: here, what is worn makes the dignity of service visible.
THE ROOT
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to be treated as weighty or honored.
The word translated “glory” carries the sense of weight: the garment makes the sons’ service perceptible as something worthy of honor. English can make glory sound abstract, while the Hebrew root keeps its weight in view.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty
כָּבֵד
It makes “glory” concrete: the garment carries the visible weight of the service.
kibbed: To honor, treat as weighty
כִּבֵּד
This branch shows how weight becomes honor: the garments give visible dignity to the role.
תִּפְאָרֶת
tif'eret
GROWS FROM
פאר
p-ʾ-r
To adorn, beautify, bring into splendor.
This root can name both adorning and the beauty that adornment makes visible. In the verse, beauty is something shaped into what the sons wear, paired with the weight their garments carry.
ALSO GROWS
pa'ar: To adorn or beautify
פָּאַר
The verb shows beauty as something made visible through adornment.
pe'er: Headdress, ornament, adornment
פְּאֵר
This branch links beauty with a worn ornament, echoing the bonnets named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is worn can make a calling or character visible to others.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;THE THREAD
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.This verse repeats the same pairing of כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or honor) and תִּפְאָרֶת (tif’eret, beauty or adornment). The same purpose given for Aaron’s garments extends to his sons: their service, too, carries visible weight and beauty.
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