Bible Strands
Exodus 39:20
They made two additional gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, on its front, near the seam just above its woven waistband.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the artisans' work on the high priest's vestments after detailing the tabernacle's construction. The account specifies the exact location of metal fittings during the ephod's assembly.
The words — וַֽיַּעֲשׂוּ (wayya‘ăśū) means "and they made," and טַבְעֹת זָהָב (ṭaḇ‘ōṯ zāhāḇ) translates as "gold rings." These terms denote the craftsmen's fabrication of metallic fasteners for the garment.
The thread — The placement of these rings links to Exodus 39:19, which records similar rings on the breastpiece, and Exodus 39:21, which describes the artisans tying those rings together with blue cord to secure the breastpiece above the ephod's waistband. Exodus 26:3 similarly notes the joining of structural components through repeated fastening.
Why it lands — The verse demands attention to the precise physical arrangement of the priestly garments. It requires the reader to recognize that the sacred vestments were assembled through deliberate, ordered craftsmanship rather than symbolic abstraction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And 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.
Cross-references
- Exodus 26:3 Five of the curtains are to be joined together, and the other five joined as well.