Exodus 28:22

Summary

This verse instructs that braided gold chains be made for the breastpiece (choshen, H2833). The Hebrew describes the chains through a dense chain of construct nouns specifying their twisted, cord-like manufacture, ending with the qualifier that the gold is tahor ("pure", H2889).

Key words

• 'a.Si.ta ("you will make", H6213H) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the ongoing instructions for constructing priestly garments; the form links this clause to the preceding commands as part of one continuous sequence.
• Cho.shen ("breastpiece", H2833) — masculine singular noun, marked definite by the article ha (H9009), identifying the specific object already introduced earlier in the passage.
• shar.Shot ("chains of", H8331) — feminine plural construct; being in construct state, it cannot stand alone and requires a following noun to complete its meaning ("chains of X").
• gav.Lut ("twisting", H1383) — feminine singular noun, the first term completing the construct chain begun by shar.Shot, specifying the chains' twisted form.
• ma.'a.Seh ("a work of", H4639G) — masculine singular construct, introducing a second descriptive phrase that further qualifies how the chains are made, followed by 'a.Vot ("cordage", H5688).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence stacks two construct phrases in sequence: shar.Shot gav.Lut ("chains of twisting") followed by ma'aseh 'avot ("a work of cordage"). Both phrases function appositionally, piling up technical vocabulary to specify a single manufacturing technique — chains formed by twisting or braiding, resembling cord-work. This construct-chain structure is common in Hebrew technical description, where nouns in construct relation build compound qualifiers without needing a verb like "is" or "resembling." The final two words, zahav tahor ("pure gold"), stand outside the construct chain as a separate noun-adjective pair, specifying the material.

The verse does not describe the chains' final use (attaching the breastpiece to the ephod) — that appears in the following verses. Here the grammar focuses narrowly on manufacturing method and material.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the object of construction as to leion ("the fringe" or "the border"), differing from the Hebrew's ha-choshen ("the breastpiece"). Where the Hebrew specifies shar.Shot ("chains"), the LXX uses krossous ("tassels" or "fringes"), a different image than metal chains. The Vulgate's catenas sibi invicem cohærentes ("chains clinging to one another") paraphrases the Hebrew's twisted/corded construction language without preserving the same construct-noun structure.