Judges 17:5

17:5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine. ¹  He made an ephod ²  and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. ³ 

Judges 18:14

18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ⁴  said to their kinsmen, ⁵  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”

Judges 18:17

18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole ⁶  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. ⁷ 

Exodus 28:6-12

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. ⁸  28:8 The artistically woven waistband ⁹  of the ephod that is on it is to be like it, of one piece with the ephod, ¹⁰  of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

28:9 “You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ¹¹  28:10 six ¹²  of their names on one stone, and the six remaining names on the second stone, according to the order of their birth. ¹³  28:11 You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; ¹⁴  you are to have them set ¹⁵  in gold filigree ¹⁶  settings. 28:12 You are to put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron will bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial. ¹⁷ 

Exodus 28:1

The Clothing of the Priests

28:1 ¹⁸ “And you, bring near ¹⁹  to you your brother Aaron and his sons with him from among the Israelites, so that they may minister as my priests ²⁰  – Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.

Exodus 23:9-10

23:9 “You must not oppress ²¹  a foreigner, since you know the life ²²  of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Sabbaths and Feasts

23:10 ²³ “For six years ²⁴  you are to sow your land and gather in its produce.

Isaiah 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ²⁵  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ²⁶ 

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “house of God.”

[17:5]  ² sn Here an ephod probably refers to a priestly garment (cf. Exod 28:4-6).

[17:5]  ³ tn Heb “and he filled the hand of one of his sons and he became his priest.”

[18:14]  ⁴ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”

[18:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers.”

[18:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”

[18:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”

[28:7]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from it” but meaning “of one [the same] piece”; the phrase “the ephod” has been supplied.

[28:9]  ¹¹ 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.

[28:10]  ¹² tn This is in apposition to the direct object of the verb “engrave.” It further defines how the names were to be engraved – six on one and the other six on the other.

[28:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to their begettings” (the major word in the book of Genesis). What is meant is that the names would be listed in the order of their ages.

[28:11]  ¹⁴ sn Expert stone or gem engravers were used to engrave designs and names in identification seals of various sizes. It was work that skilled artisans did.

[28:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “you will mount them” (NRSV similar).

[28:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “rosettes,” shield-like frames for the stones. The Hebrew word means “to plait, checker.”

[28:12]  ¹⁷ sn This was to be a perpetual reminder that the priest ministers on behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their names would always be borne by the priests.

[28:1]  ¹⁸ sn Some modern scholars find this and the next chapter too elaborate for the wilderness experience. To most of them this reflects the later Zadokite priesthood of the writer’s (P’s) day that was referred to Mosaic legislation for authentication. But there is no compelling reason why this should be late; it is put late because it is assumed to be P, and that is assumed to be late. But both assumptions are unwarranted. This lengthy chapter could be divided this way: instructions for preparing the garments (1-5), details of the apparel (6-39), and a warning against deviating from these (40-43). The subject matter of the first part is that God requires that his chosen ministers reflect his holy nature; the point of the second part is that God requires his ministers to be prepared to fulfill the tasks of the ministry, and the subject matter of the third part is that God warns all his ministers to safeguard the holiness of their service.

[28:1]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperative of the root קָרַב (qarav, “to draw near”). In the present stem the word has religious significance, namely, to present something to God, like an offering.

[28:1]  ²⁰ tn This entire clause is a translation of the Hebrew לְכַהֲנוֹ־לִי (lÿkhahano-li, “that he might be a priest to me”), but the form is unusual. The word means “to be a priest” or “to act as a priest.” The etymology of the word for priest, כֹּהֵן (kohen), is uncertain.

[23:9]  ²¹ tn The verb means “to crush.” S. R. Driver notes that in this context this would probably mean with an unfair judgment in the courts (Exodus, 239).

[23:9]  ²² tn Heb “soul, life” – “you know what it feels like.”

[23:10]  ²³ sn This section concerns religious duties of the people of God as they worship by giving thanks to God for their blessings. The principles here are: God requires his people to allow the poor to share in their bounty (10-11); God requires his people to provide times of rest and refreshment for those who labor for them (12); God requires allegiance to himself (13); God requires his people to come before him in gratitude and share their bounty (14-17); God requires that his people safeguard proper worship forms (18-19).

[23:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and six years”; this is an adverbial accusative telling how long they can work their land. The following references to years and days in vv. 10-12 function similarly.

[8:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).