And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel:
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel:
- BSB Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons 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 28:13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
- Gen 2:12And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
- Exod 39:6And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel.
- Isa 49:16Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
- Exod 39:13And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings.
- Job 28:16It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
- Song 8:6Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
- Exod 28:36And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
- Exod 28:20And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.
- 2 Chr 2:7Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.
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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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