Exodus 28:9

28:9 “You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ¹ 

Exodus 28:20

28:20 and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. ²  They are to be enclosed in gold in their filigree settings.

Exodus 35:27

35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted ³  for the ephod and the breastpiece,

Exodus 39:13

39:13 and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold filigree settings.

Exodus 39:6

39:6 They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal ⁴  with the names of the sons of Israel. ⁵ 

¹ tn Although this is normally translated “Israelites,” here a more literal translation is clearer because it refers to the names of the twelve tribes – the actual sons of Israel.

² sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 375-76) points out that these are the same precious stones mentioned in Ezek 28:13 that were to be found in Eden, the garden of God. So the priest, when making atonement, was to wear the precious gems that were there and symbolized the garden of Eden when man was free from sin.

³ tn Heb “and stones of the filling.”

⁴ tn Or “as seals are engraved.”

⁵ sn The twelve names were those of Israel’s sons. The idea was not the remembrance of the twelve sons as such, but the twelve tribes that bore their names.