Exodus 28:29

Summary

The verse describes Aaron carrying the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on the breastpiece over his heart whenever he enters the sanctuary, so that they serve as a continual reminder before Yehovah.

Key words

• na.Sa' ("he will bear", H5375) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain from the preceding verses; expresses the ongoing, repeated action of carrying.
• shemot ("names of", H8034) — feminine plural construct, opening a double construct chain (shemot bene Yisrael, "names of the sons of Israel") that binds the names grammatically to the tribes.
• choshen ha-mishpat ("breastpiece of the judgment", H2833/H4941) — masculine singular construct followed by a noun with the definite article; the article falls on the second element of the phrase, a common construct pattern in Biblical Hebrew.
• be.vo'o ("when he comes", H0935) — infinitive construct with 3ms pronominal suffix, forming a temporal clause ("in his coming/entering") rather than a separate finite verb.
• tamid ("continually", H8548) — masculine singular noun used adverbially, modifying the preceding purpose clause without any preposition of its own.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the sequential verb na.Sa' ("he will bear", H5375), attached by the narrative vav to the prior instructions about the breastpiece. The direct object is a construct chain, et-shemot bene-Yisra'el ("the names of the sons of Israel"), where shemot (H8034) governs bene (H1121A), which in turn governs Yisra'el (H3478) — a nested construct structure typical of Hebrew genitive relations. The location of this action is given by be-choshen ha-mishpat ("on the breastpiece of the judgment") and al-libbo ("over his heart"), both prepositional phrases specifying where the names rest physically.

The temporal condition is expressed not with a finite verb but with the infinitive construct be-vo'o ("in his entering", H0935) plus pronoun suffix, followed by el ha-qodesh ("into the holy place"). This construction ties the bearing of the names specifically to the moment of entry into the sanctuary. The final clause, le-zikkaron lifnei-YHWH tamid ("for a remembrance before Yehovah continually"), uses zikkaron (H2146) with the preposition le- to state purpose, and tamid (H8548) as an adverbial noun indicating the ongoing, repeated nature of this remembrance, without additional grammatical marking.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint text supplied here does not correspond to this Hebrew verse; it describes pomegranate ornaments and bells on the hem of the robe (material belonging to a different portion of Exodus 28), so no direct comparison of rendering choices for Exodus 28:29 can be made from the data given. The Vulgate renders tamid (H8548, "continually") as in aeternum ("forever"), where the Hebrew noun denotes ongoing repetition rather than unending duration.