Exodus 39
Exodus 39 is a chapter of finished work. The instructions for the priestly garments were given long before, back on the mountain (Exodus 28); now they are carried out, thread by thread and stone by stone. The materials are the same precious ones that clothe the tabernacle itself - gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen - and the workmanship is the finest Israel can give. What is being made is not ornament. It is the clothing for the one man who may go in before God on behalf of the whole people: the ephod with its shoulder pieces, the breastplate holding the names of the tribes, the robe ringed with bells and pomegranates, the linen coats and mitre, and the golden plate of the holy crown.3
Through it all runs a single, insistent refrain. Seven times across the chapter the text stops to say as the LORD commanded Moses (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31), and then twice more at the close - according to all that the LORD commanded… as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it (vv. 42-43). The repetition is the point. This is obedience down to the embroidery, a people doing exactly what they were told, in the right materials, in the right order, leaving nothing out and adding nothing of their own. And it comes at a particular moment in Israel's story: after the golden calf, after the breaking of the tablets, after intercession and forgiveness. Here is a people restored, building carefully what they had so recently profaned.
The chapter ends with an inspection and a blessing. The people bring the whole completed work to Moses - the tent, the ark, the table, the candlestick, the altars, the garments, all of it laid out before him. He looks it over, finds that they have done it exactly as the LORD commanded, and blesses them. It is the posture of Genesis 1, where God looked on what He had made and saw that it was good. And for the reader who knows where the priesthood is finally heading, the whole workshop quietly points beyond itself - to a great High Priest clothed in true holiness, carrying His people's names into the presence of God, and to a work that another would one day finish exactly as the Father commanded.2
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Exodus 39:1-7The Ephod · Names upon the Shoulders
1And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. 2And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 3And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work. 4They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together. 5And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses. 6And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel. 7And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Before a single garment is described, the first verse already sounds the note that will toll through the whole chapter: as the LORD commanded Moses (v. 1). It returns seven times across these verses (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31) and twice more at the close, and the repetition is doing deliberate work. This is not a writer running out of variety; it is a chapter insisting on a single truth. The garments, the stones, the bells, the golden plate - none of it is the artisans' own design. Every piece reproduces a pattern given on the mountain (Exodus 28), made in the prescribed materials, in the prescribed way. The refrain comes, pointedly, after the golden calf - the great act of worship Israel did invent for itself, fashioning a god to its own taste. Set against that catastrophe, the drumbeat of as the LORD commanded is the sound of a people learning to worship on God's terms rather than their own. True worship here is received, not designed; obeyed, not improvised.
The next thing made is the ephod - the central garment of the high priest, a kind of apron or vestment worn over the robe. It is woven of the same costly materials that clothe the tabernacle itself: gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen (v. 2). Nothing about this is hurried or makeshift. The colors are the colors of the sanctuary; the gold is real gold; the craftsmanship is what the chapter keeps calling cunning work - skilled, intentional, the finest the people can give. There is a quiet theology in the materials themselves. The one who will stand between God and the people is dressed in the same splendor as the place where God dwells, because he is, in his very clothing, a living piece of the sanctuary. He does not come before God in his ordinary clothes. He is set apart, marked out, dressed for a work that touches heaven.
Then comes a detail easy to read past: they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in (v. 3). The gold is not merely sewn on as ornament; it is hammered paper-thin, cut into fine threads, and woven into the fabric itself, run through the blue and purple and scarlet so that the whole garment is shot through with it. This is the only place in the Scriptures that describes how the gold thread was made, and it is worth pausing on. Gold is precious because it is heavy and solid; here its glory is achieved by being beaten thin and stretched out until it can be woven into cloth. The priest who wears it will move in the lamplight, and the gold will catch the light at every step, so that the garment seems to shine. It is a costly, patient labor - the precious thing made useful not by hoarding it but by hammering it out.1
On the shoulders of the ephod the artisans set two onyx stones, and on those stones they engrave something more precious than the gold around them: they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel (v. 6). Every tribe is named. The engraving is done as signets are graven - with the same deep, permanent cut a craftsman uses for a personal seal, the most lasting kind of writing he knows. These are not labels that wash off; they are cut into stone to stay. And the stones are then mounted not just anywhere, but on the shoulders - the place that bears weight. The instruction in Exodus 28 explains the purpose plainly: the priest is to carry these names upon his two shoulders for a memorial (Exod. 28:12), so that when he goes in before the LORD, the whole people go in with him. He does not stand there as a private man. He stands as the one who carries Israel on his back into the presence of God.1
Exodus 39:8-21The Breastplate · Names upon the Heart
8And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled. 10And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row. 11And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. 12And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. 13And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings. 14And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes. 15And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold. 16And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate. 17And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate. 18And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. 19And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward. 20And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. 21And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses.
After the shoulders comes the heart. The breastplate is made of the same precious materials as the ephod, foursquare and folded double - a span square, a pouch of woven gold and color worn over the priest's chest (vv. 8-9). The doubling matters: it forms a pocket, sturdy enough to hold weight, made to last under the strain of being worn in service. Into it the artisans set four rows of three stones each - twelve in all - inclosed in ouches of gold (vv. 10-13). The list of stones is read slowly here, gem by gem, because each one stands for a name. This is the most richly adorned piece of the whole vestment, and it is worn not on the back, not on the arm, but directly over the heart. Where the shoulder spoke of strength to carry, the heart speaks of love to hold. The priest bears the people in both places at once: on his shoulders, where the strong burden rests, and on his heart, where the beloved is kept.
Verse 14 makes the meaning explicit, and it is the center of the whole section: the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes. Notice how the text lingers - twelve… according to their names… every one with his name. It will not let the names dissolve into a crowd. Each tribe is engraved individually, with its own stone and its own name cut deep like the engravings of a signet. The command in Exodus 28 names the purpose: Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually (Exod. 28:29). So twice now the people are carried in - on the shoulders for strength, over the heart for love - and both times by name, individually, none lost in the number. The God of Israel does not deal with His people as an anonymous mass. He knows them one by one.
The closing verses of the section read like an engineer's notes: wreathen chains of pure gold, two ouches, gold rings at the corners, a lace of blue threaded through to fasten the breastplate to the ephod (vv. 15-21). It can seem like tedious detail - until you see what all the rings and chains are for. They exist so that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod (v. 21). The whole apparatus is a fastening, designed to make sure the names over the priest's heart can never come unfastened and fall away while he ministers. He cannot accidentally lose them; they are bound to him, tied on, secured at every corner. There is comfort hidden in the hardware. The text is at pains to say that the connection between the priest and the people he carries is not loose or precarious. It is fixed. The names stay where they are put. And the section ends, as the chapter so often does, on the refrain: as the LORD commanded Moses. Even the fastenings were obedience.3
Exodus 39:22-31Holiness to the LORD
22And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. 23And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. 24And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. 25And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; 26A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses. 27And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 28And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, 29And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses. 30And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 31And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses.
The robe worn under the ephod is woven all of blue - the color of the sky, the color most associated in the sanctuary with heaven (v. 22). Its neck-opening is reinforced with a woven band that it should not rend (v. 23): even the seams are made to endure the work. But the most evocative detail is the hem. Around the bottom edge the artisans sew alternating ornaments: pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and between them bells of pure gold - a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about (vv. 24-26). The pomegranate, packed with seeds, is throughout Scripture a sign of fruitfulness and life, of a creation made to multiply and flourish. So the priest goes about his ministry fringed with the fruit of the earth, clothed in the evidence that the God he serves is the God who makes things grow. He does not come before the LORD in barren emptiness; the very hem of his robe is heavy with life.
Between the pomegranates hang the bells of pure gold, and they are not decorative only - the robe is made this way to minister in (v. 26). The bells mean the priest cannot move in the holy place unheard. Every step he takes rings; his ministry makes a sound. The instruction in Exodus 28 gives the reason with sober weight: his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not (Exod. 28:35). The sound is a sign of life, a witness that the one who entered the dangerous, holy nearness of God is still moving, still alive, still standing. The people waiting outside cannot see him, but they can hear him - and the ringing tells them their representative lives and ministers on their behalf. Life and sound, fruit and song, alternate all the way around the hem. The priestly work is fruitful, and it is not silent.
With the robe finished, the workshop turns to the rest of the priestly wardrobe: coats of fine linen for Aaron and his sons, a mitre (the high priest's turban) and goodly bonnets for the sons, linen breeches, and a girdle of needlework in blue, purple, and scarlet (vv. 27-29). The white linen is its own quiet sermon - clean, bright, unstained - the dress of those who draw near to serve. Every item is made to the pattern, and verse 29 sounds the refrain again: as the LORD commanded Moses. Nothing here is the artisans' own invention. They are not designing a uniform to their taste; they are reproducing, faithfully, the heavenly pattern shown to Moses on the mountain. The whole point of the chapter presses in once more: this is worship received, not worship invented. The garments are beautiful because they are obedient.
Exodus 39:32-43As the LORD Commanded · Moses Blesses the Work
32Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. 33And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets, 34And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering, 35The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, 36The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread, 37The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light, 38And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, 39The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot, 40The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation, 41The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons' garments, to minister in the priest's office. 42According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. 43And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.
The long workshop comes to rest on a single great word: Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished (v. 32). After the calf, after the broken tablets, after the failure and the forgiveness, the work is done - and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. The verse deliberately echoes the close of creation in Genesis, where the heavens and the earth were finished and God rested from all his work which he had made (Gen. 2:1-2). The tabernacle is, in miniature, a new creation - a place ordered and finished according to the word of God, where He will come to dwell among His people. And the emphasis falls, as it has all chapter, on the completeness and the obedience of the work: all the work… according to all that the LORD commanded… so did they. Nothing was left undone, and nothing was done a different way than it was given. The making matched the command exactly.
Verses 33 through 41 read like an inventory carried in procession, and the effect is cumulative: the tabernacle, the tent, the boards and bars and sockets, the coverings, the veil, the ark and its mercy seat, the table and the shewbread, the candlestick and its lamps, the golden altar, the incense, the brasen altar, the laver, the hangings of the court, and the holy garments - they brought all of it to Moses. Piece by piece the whole work is laid before him. The repetition is not padding; it is a kind of liturgy, an accounting that nothing is missing. Everything the LORD commanded has been made, and everything made is now presented for inspection. Then verse 42 gathers it all into one line and sounds the refrain a final time: According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. The whole chapter has been building to this verdict - total work, total obedience. What was commanded on the mountain has been done on the ground.3
And then the chapter ends with a gesture as old as a father over his children: And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them (v. 43). This is not Moses hunting for flaws. The word behold carries his glad surprise, the satisfied look of one who finds the work done rightly - the same posture as God surveying creation and seeing that it was good. What Moses sees is obedience, and what he gives in response is blessing. The order matters. After the disaster of the golden calf, this is a people restored - not because they earned their way back by impressive achievement, but because they returned to obedience, did what they were told, and brought it all faithfully. The blessing is not wrung from Moses by their excellence; it is freely given over their faithfulness. Obedience, offered after failure, becomes the doorway back into blessing. The chapter that opened in the ashes of the calf closes with hands lifted over a forgiven people.
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Exodus 39 with Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for the engraved phrase qodesh la-YHWH (v. 30, “HOLINESS TO THE LORD”), for the recurring formula ka'asher tzivah YHWH et-Mosheh (“as the LORD commanded Moses”), and for the gold beaten into thin plates and cut into threads in verse 3.
- Exodus 39 ↔ Hebrews 7 · Exodus 28 · Isaiah 40 · John 17Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Exodus 39 to the rest of Scripture - the garments for glory and for beauty and the names borne on heart and shoulders (Exod. 28) read alongside the high priest holy, harmless, undefiled (Heb. 7:26) and the Shepherd who carries the sheep (Isa. 40:11; Luke 15:5), and the work finished exactly as commanded read beside I have finished the work (John 17:4).
- Exodus 39 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Exodus 39 - the engraving of the stones as signets are graven (vv. 6, 14), the construction of the breastplate and its rings (vv. 8-21), the alternating bells and pomegranates of the robe (vv. 24-26), and the wording of the inscription on the golden plate (v. 30).
Where this echoes in Scripture
The Ephod · Names upon the Shoulders
- Exodus 28:9-12thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.The command behind verses 6-7 - the names borne on the shoulders so the people are remembered before God.
- Luke 15:4-5when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.The Shepherd who carries the sheep on His shoulders - the high priest’s burden-bearing made personal.
- Isaiah 40:11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.The same picture as verse 7 - the people carried, not left to carry themselves.
- Exodus 35:30-35them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work... to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass.The skilled craftsmen behind the cunning work of verses 2-3 - gifted by God to make the holy things.
- Hebrews 4:14we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.The office these garments clothe, named in person - the High Priest who carries His people in.
The Breastplate · Names upon the Heart
- Exodus 28:29Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.The purpose of the breastplate in verses 8-21 - the names borne over the heart, into the holy place, continually.
- Isaiah 49:16Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.The names engraved on the priest (v. 14) answered - God graving His people on His own hands.
- John 10:28I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.The security of the fastened breastplate (v. 21) - those He carries cannot be plucked away.
- Song of Solomon 8:6Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death.The seal worn over heart and arm - the very image of the names on shoulder and breastplate.
- Revelation 3:5I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father.The engraved, unblottable name - carried by the High Priest before the Father, as in verse 14.
Holiness to the LORD
- Exodus 28:36-38thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it... HOLINESS TO THE LORD... that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things.The command behind verse 30 - the plate worn so the people’s worship is accepted before the LORD.
- Hebrews 7:26such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.The holiness of the golden plate fulfilled in person - the High Priest who is Himself holy.
- Jeremiah 23:6and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.The holiness supplied to us (v. 30) - a righteousness that is His name, given to His people.
- Exodus 28:35his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD... that he die not.The purpose of the bells in verses 25-26 - the sound that signals the priest lives and ministers.
- 1 Peter 2:5to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.The plate’s deepest work (v. 30) - worship made acceptable through the holiness of the priest.
As the LORD Commanded · Moses Blesses the Work
- Genesis 2:1-2Thus the heavens and the earth were finished... And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made.The echo behind verse 32 - a finished work, a place ordered by the word of God, as at creation.
- John 17:4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.The finished, commanded work of verses 32 and 43 brought to its perfection in the Son.
- John 19:30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.The word this chapter reaches toward - the work given by the Father, completed.
- Exodus 40:33-34So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.What the finished and blessed work of verse 43 leads to - the glory of the LORD coming to dwell.
- Numbers 6:24-26The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: the LORD make his face shine upon thee... and give thee peace.The blessing Moses gives in verse 43 - the same priestly favor lifted over a faithful, forgiven people.