The ephod was made of gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen. They hammered out sheets of gold and cut threads to be worked into designs among the blue, the purple, and the crimson yarns, and the fine linen. They made for it attaching shoulder-pieces; they were attached at its two Ends. The decorated band that was upon it was made like it, of one piece with it; of gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen–as the Lord had commanded Moses.
They bordered the lazuli stones with frames of gold, engraved with seal engravings of the names of the sons of Israel. They were set on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the Israelites–as the Lord had commanded Moses.
The breastpiece was made in the style of the ephod: of gold, blue, purple, an crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen. It was square; they made the breastpiece doubled–a span in length and a span in width, doubled. They set in it four rows of stones. The first row was a row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald; the second row: a turquoise, a sapphire, and an amethyst; the third row: a jacinth, an agate, and a crystal; and the fourth row: a beryl, a lapis lazuli, and a jasper. They were encircled in their mountings with frames of gold. The stones corresponded [in number] to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, corresponding to their names; engraved like seals, each with its name, for the twelve tribes.
On the breastpiece they made braided chains of corded work in pure gold. They made two frames of gold and two rings of gold, and fastened the two rings at the two ends of the breastpiece, attaching the two golden cords to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece. They then fastened the two ends of the cords to the two frames, attaching them to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at the front. They made two rings of gold and attached them to the two ends of the breastpiece, at its inner edge, which faced the ephod. They made two other rings of gold and fastened them on the front of the ephod, low on the two shoulder-pieces, close to its seam above the decorated band. The breastpiece was held in place by a cord of blue from its rings to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece rested on the decorated band and did not come loose from the ephod–as the Lord had commanded Moses.
From Parshat Pekudey. From THE TANAKH: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. Used by permission.