Exodus 28:5-8

28:5 The artisans ¹  are to use ²  the gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen.

28:6 “They are to make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, the work of an artistic designer. 28:7 It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be joined together. ³  28:8 The artistically woven waistband ⁴  of the ephod that is on it is to be like it, of one piece with the ephod, ⁵  of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

[28:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and they.” The word “artisans” is supplied as the referent of the pronoun, a connection that is clearer in Hebrew than in English.

[28:5]  ² tn Heb “receive” or “take.”

[28:7]  ³ tn Here the Pual perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive provides the purpose clause (equal to a final imperfect); the form follows the use of the active participle, “attached” or more Heb “joining.”

[28:8]  ⁴ tn This is the rendering of the word חֵשֶׁב (kheshev), cognate to the word translated “designer” in v. 6. Since the entire ephod was of the same material, and this was of the same piece, it is unclear why this is singled out as “artistically woven.” Perhaps the word is from another root that just describes the item as a “band.” Whatever the connection, this band was to be of the same material, and the same piece, as the ephod, but perhaps a different pattern (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 301). It is this sash that attaches the ephod to the priest’s body, that is, at the upper border of the ephod and clasped together at the back.

[28:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “from it” but meaning “of one [the same] piece”; the phrase “the ephod” has been supplied.