Knox Bible

1

Besellel made vestments, too, of blue and purple, scarlet and lawn, for Aaron to wear when he ministered in the holy place, as the Lord had prescribed them to Moses.

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He made a mantle of gold and blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and of twisted linen thread,

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all embroidered work; to do this, he must needs cut up gold leaf and spin it into threads, so that it could be worked into the rest of the coloured woof.

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At the top, on either side, he made two shoulder-pieces joined together,

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and a band✻ of the same colours, as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.

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He also provided two onyx-stones, closely set in gold, and inscribed by a gem-carver with the names of Israel’s sons;

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these, according to the prescription which the Lord had given Moses, he let into the sides of the mantle, to keep the sons of Israel in memory.

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He made a burse, too, of embroidered work, of the same pattern as the mantle itself, of gold and blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and twisted linen thread,

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a folded square of a palm’s breadth either way.

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And he set in it four rows of stones; in the first row a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald;

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in the second, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper-stone;

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in the third, a jacynth, an agate, and an amethyst;

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in the fourth, a chrysolite, an onyx-stone, and a beryl; all the rows were closely set in gold.

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And these stones were inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, one on each.

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On the burse, they put chains of pure gold, fastened together,

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and two hooks, and two rings, all of gold. The rings they set on either side of the burse,

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so that the two gold chains could hang from them, and these fitted the hooks which stood out from the corners of the mantle.

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They met before and behind in such a way that mantle and burse were linked together,

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tied to the strongly fastened rings of the band by a blue cord, so that they should not hang loose, and come apart; so the Lord had prescribed to Moses.

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They made a tunic, too, to go with the mantle, all of blue,

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with an opening in the middle of it at the top, that had a woven border round it.

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Underneath, round the skirt of it, there were ornaments of blue thread and purple and scarlet, and twisted linen thread, pomegranate-shaped;

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bells, too, of pure gold, which they put in between the pomegranates all round, at the edge of the tunic;

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first a golden bell, then a pomegranate. Such, according to the prescription the Lord had given Moses, was to be the dress of the priest when he went in to perform his sacred office.

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They made, too, woven robes of lawn for Aaron and his sons,

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and mitres of lawn with rings about them,

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breeches, too, woven of fine linen thread,

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and a girdle of twisted linen thread, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.

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They also made a plate of pure gold, a thing most sacred, inscribed with all the engraver’s skill, with the words, Set apart for the Lord;

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and this, according to the prescription the Lord gave Moses, they fastened with a blue cord to the mitre.

31

So the sons of Israel finished making the tabernacle, and all that covered in the sacred record, carrying out all the prescriptions the Lord had given to Moses.

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And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent itself and all its furniture, rings, frames, poles, posts and sockets;

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the canopy of rams’ fleeces dyed red, and the other canopy of skins dyed violet;

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the veil, the ark with its poles, and the throne;

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the table with its appurtenances and the loaves that were to be set out on it;

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the lamp-stand, with its lamps and its other appurtenances, and the oil for it;

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the golden altar, the ointment, and the incense made from spices;

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the hanging for the tabernacle approach;

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the brazen altar, with its grate, its poles, and all its appurtenances; the basin with its stand; the hangings for the court, and the posts with their sockets;

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the hanging for the entrance of the court, its ropes and its pegs. Nothing was missing of all the appurtenances that had been prescribed for the needs of the tabernacle, the shrine of the covenant.

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The vestments, too, that were to be worn by the priests, both Aaron himself and his sons, in the sanctuary,

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were brought to Moses by the Israelites, in fulfilment of the Lord’s command.

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And when Moses saw that they had completed all their task, he gave them his blessing.