Exo 28:1, 4, 6-30, 29:4-37, 39:1-7, Lev 8:7-8, Num 16:5, 17:5-8, 18:1-7 | ESV | STEP | Then bring near to you Aaron your brother , and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel , to serve me as priests — Aaron and Aaron’s sons , Nadab and Abihu , Eleazar and Ithamar .

1 “Then bring near to you ^aAaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, ^bNadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

Exodus 28:4

4 These are the garments that they shall make: a ^cbreastpiece, an ^dephod, ^ea robe, ^fa coat of checker work, ^ga turban, and ^ha sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests.

Exodus 28:6-30

6 ⁱ“And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked. 7 It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. 8 And the ^jskillfully woven band on it shall be made like it and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 9 You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, 10 six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. 11 As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. 12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And ^kAaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders ^lfor remembrance. 13 You shall make settings of gold filigree, 14 and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

15 ^m“You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it—of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. 16 It shall be square and doubled, a span ^{▼▼A span was about 9 inches or 22 centimeters} its length and a span its breadth. 17 ^oYou shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, ^{▼▼The identity of some of these stones is uncertain} topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; 18 and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 19 and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20 and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. 21 There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. 22 You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. 23 And you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. 24 And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. 25 The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. 26 You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. 27 And you shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the ^qskillfully woven band of the ephod. 28 And they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. 29 ^rSo Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular ^sremembrance before the Lord. 30 And in the breastpiece of judgment ^tyou shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.

Exodus 29:4-37

4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^uwash them with water. 5 Then ^vyou shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the ^wskillfully woven band of the ephod. 6 ^xAnd you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 You shall take ^ythe anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 Then you ^zshall bring his sons and put coats on them, 9 and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with ^aasashes and bind caps on them. And ^abthe priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ^acordain Aaron and his sons.

10 “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. ^adAaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 12 and ^aeshall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the ^afhorns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of ^{▼▼Hebrew all} the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all ^ahthe fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire ^aioutside the camp; ^ajit is a sin offering.

15 “Then ^akyou shall take one of the rams, and ^alAaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 16 and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. 17 Then you shall ^amcut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, 18 and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a ^anpleasing aroma, a food offering ^{▼▼Or an offering by fire; also verses 25, 41} to the Lord.

19 ^ap“You shall take the other ram, ^aqand Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 20 and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the ^aranointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

22 “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the ^asfat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ^atordination), 23 and ^auone loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. 24 You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and ^avwave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then ^awyou shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a ^axpleasing aroma before the Lord. It is a food offering to the Lord.

26 “You shall take the ^aybreast of the ram of Aaron’s ^azordination and ^bawave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion. 27 And you shall consecrate the ^bbbreast of the wave offering that is waved and the ^bcthigh of the priests’ portion that is contributed from the ram of ^bdordination, from what was Aaron’s and his sons’. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a ^beperpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a ^bfcontribution. It shall be a ^bgcontribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.

29 “The holy garments of Aaron ^bhshall be for his sons after him; they shall ^bibe anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, shall wear them ^bjseven days.

31 “You shall take the ram of ordination and ^bkboil its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the ^blbread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 ^bmThey shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an ^bnoutsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall ^boburn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through ^bpseven days shall you ordain them, 36 and every day you shall offer a ^bqbull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall ^branoint it to consecrate it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the ^bsaltar shall be most holy. ^btWhatever touches the altar shall become holy.

Exodus 39:1-7

Making the Priestly Garments

1 From the ^bublue and purple and scarlet yarns they made ^bvfinely woven garments, ^{▼▼Or garments for worship} for ministering in the Holy Place. They made the holy garments for Aaron, ^bxas the Lord had commanded Moses.

2 ^byHe made the ephod of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 3 And they hammered out gold leaf, and he cut it into threads to work into the blue and purple and the scarlet yarns, and into the fine twined linen, in skilled design. 4 They made for the ephod attaching shoulder pieces, joined to it at its two edges. 5 And the skillfully woven band on it was of one piece with it and made like it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

6 They made the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold filigree, and engraved like the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. 7 And he set them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod to be stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Leviticus 8:7-8

7 And he put ^bzthe coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. ^{▼▼Hebrew with it} 8 And he placed the breastpiece on him, and ^cbin the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim.

Numbers 16:5

5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show ^ccwho is his, ^{▼▼Septuagint The Lord knows those who are his} and who is ^ceholy, and will bring him near to him. The one ^cfwhom he chooses he will ^cgbring near to him.

Numbers 17:5-8

5 And the staff of the man ^chwhom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me ^cithe grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” 6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in ^cjthe tent of the testimony.

8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

Numbers 18:1-7

Duties of Priests and Levites

1 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall ^ckbear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, ^cland you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. 2 And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may ^cmjoin you and ^cnminister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 They shall keep guard over you and ^coover the whole tent, ^cpbut shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar ^cqlest they, and you, die. 4 They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, ^crand no outsider shall come near you. 5 And you shall ^cskeep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, ^ctthat there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. 6 ^cuAnd behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. ^cvThey are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And ^cwyou and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and ^cxthat is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, ^{▼▼Hebrew service of gift} and ^czany outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”