Exodus 39

EasyEnglish Bible

The clothes for the priests

39 The workers used blue, purple and red material to make beautiful clothes for the priests. They would wear them when they served God in the Holy Place. They made these special clothes for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The ephod

² The workers used gold, and blue, purple and red material, as well as good linen, to make the ephod. ³ They used a hammer to hit the gold to make thin pieces. Then they cut these pieces into narrow strings. A worker with special skills used the gold strings to make the blue, purple and red material, and the good linen, look very beautiful. ⁴ The workers fixed pieces of cloth on the two edges of the ephod. These pieces went over the priest's shoulders to join the front and the back parts of the ephod.

⁵ They made the beautiful belt to tie around the ephod. The belt and the ephod were one piece of work. They used the same materials to make both of them: gold, blue, purple and red material and good linen. They made them in the way that the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ The workers fixed the onyx stones into beautiful gold around their edges. A worker used a sharp tool to write on them the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷ They fixed the two onyx stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod. They showed the names of the 12 sons of Israel, so that the Lord would remember to bless his people. The Lord had commanded Moses to do this.

The breastpiece

⁸ A worker used special skills to make the breastpiece, so that it looked beautiful. He made it like the ephod. He used gold, blue, purple and red material as well as good linen to make it. ⁹ They bent a piece of cloth over to make a square pocket, 22 centimetres long and 22 centimetres wide. ¹⁰ Then they fixed four rows of jewels on it.^[a] These are the names of the jewels: A ruby, a topaz and a beryl in the first row. ¹¹ A turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald in the second row. ¹² A jacinth, an agate and an amethyst in the third row. ¹³ A chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper in the fourth row. They fixed each jewel into beautiful gold around its edges. ¹⁴ There were 12 jewels, one jewel for each of Israel's sons. They used a sharp tool to write one tribe's name on each jewel.

¹⁵ They used pure gold to make two thin chains like strings, to fix the breastpiece to the ephod ¹⁶ Then they made two gold rings with beautiful gold around the edges. They fixed the rings to the two top corners of the breastpiece. ¹⁷ They fixed the two gold chains to the rings on the corners of the breastpiece. ¹⁸ They fixed the other ends of the two chains to the shoulder pieces of the ephod, in the front. They joined them to the gold pieces that held the onyx stones.

¹⁹ They made two gold rings and they fixed them to the bottom corners of the breastpiece. They were on its inside edge, next to the ephod. ²⁰ Then they made two more gold rings. They fixed them to the bottom edge of the shoulder pieces, on the front of the ephod. They put the rings just above the ephod's belt. ²¹ They used a string of blue material to tie the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod. They fixed them together above the ephod's belt, so that the breastpiece would not become separate. The workers made all these things as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The other clothes for the priests

²² The workers used only blue cloth to make the robe for the ephod.^{[b] 23} They made a hole in the top of the robe, in the middle. They made an edge around the hole so that it would not tear. The priest's head would go through this hole. ²⁴ They used blue, purple and red materials and good linen to make pictures of pomegranates. These were around the bottom edge of the robe. ²⁵ They used pure gold to make little bells. They fixed the bells between the pomegranates on the bottom edge of the robe. ²⁶ So there was a bell, then a pomegranate, another bell then a pomegranate, all around the edge of the robe. The priest would wear this robe when he served the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁷ The workers made long shirts for Aaron and his sons, the priests. They used good linen to make cloth for the shirts. ²⁸ They also used good linen to make Aaron's special hat, as well as hats for the other priests. They used special soft linen to make the trousers that they wore next to their skin. ²⁹ A worker used special skills to make the long belt, so that it looked beautiful. He used blue, purple and red materials to make it, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁰ The workers used pure gold to make a thin plate as a holy sign. They wrote these words on it carefully with a sharp tool: ‘Holy to the Lord’. ³¹ They fixed a blue string to the plate, to tie it to the front of the special hat. The Lord had commanded Moses to do this.

Moses checks the tabernacle

³² So the workers finished making everything for the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. The Israelites made everything exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³ Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses. They brought the tent and all the things that would be in it. They brought the hooks, boards, sticks, poles and bases. ³⁴ They brought the red leather from sheep's skins, and the other kinds of good leather that covered the tent. They also brought the curtain that hid the Most Holy Place. ³⁵ They brought the Covenant Box with its poles and its special lid. ³⁶ They brought the special table with all its dishes, and the special bread to put on the table for the Lord.

³⁷ They brought the gold lampstand with its lamps, and the oil and the tools to make the lamps give light. ³⁸ They brought the gold altar, the special oil, the sweet incense and the curtain for the entrance of the tabernacle. ³⁹ They brought the bronze altar and its bronze net, with its poles and all its tools. They brought the large bowl for water and its base. ⁴⁰ They brought the curtains for the yard and the curtain for the entrance to the yard, with their poles and their bases. They brought all the ropes and the pegs to fix those things to the ground. They brought everything that the priests needed to serve the Lord in the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.

⁴¹ They also brought the special clothes for Aaron and his sons to wear when they served the Lord as priests in the Holy Place.

⁴² The Israelites did all the work in the way that the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴³ Moses carefully checked all the work. He saw that the workers had done it exactly as the Lord had commanded them.

When Moses saw this, he blessed the people.