Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel:
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel:
- KJV And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel:
- NKJV “Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel:
- NASB And you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,
- NLT “Take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the tribes of Israel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Two onyx stones were to be engraved with the names of the sons of Israel. These would be set on the ephod's shoulders, bearing the tribes before God.
Overview
The names of Israel's tribes were engraved on onyx stones to be worn by the high priest, so the whole nation was carried into God's presence. The priest thus represented all the people before the Lord. This beautifully foreshadows Christ, who bears the names of His own before the Father, ever interceding for them (Hebrews 7:25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 28:13You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation.
- Gen 2:12And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.
- Exod 39:6They mounted the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved like a seal with the names of the sons of Israel.
- Isa 49:16Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
- Exod 39:13and the fourth row had a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. These stones were mounted in gold filigree settings.
- Job 28:16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
- Song 8:6Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- Exod 28:36You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD.
- Exod 28:20and in the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. Mount these stones in gold filigree settings.
- 2 Chr 2:7Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 28:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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