Exodus 28:4
וְאֵלֶּה הַבְּגָדִים אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשׂוּ חֹשֶׁן וְאֵפוֹד וּמְעִיל וּכְתֹנֶת תַּשְׁבֵּץ מִצְנֶפֶת וְאַבְנֵט וְעָשׂוּ בִגְדֵי־קֹדֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ וּלְבָנָיו לְכַהֲנוֹ־לִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאֵ֨לֶּה הַבְּגָדִ֜ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר יַעֲשׂ֗וּ חֹ֤שֶׁן וְאֵפוֹד֙ וּמְעִ֔יל וּכְתֹ֥נֶת תַּשְׁבֵּ֖ץ מִצְנֶ֣פֶת וְאַבְנֵ֑ט וְעָשׂ֨וּ בִגְדֵי־קֹ֜דֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹ֥ן אָחִ֛יךָ וּלְבָנָ֖יו לְכַהֲנוֹ־לִֽי׃
καὶ αὗται αἱ ατολαὶ ἃς ποιήσουσ ιν· τὸ περιστήθιον καὶ τὴν ἐπωμίδα κοὶ τὸν ποδήρη χιτῶνα κοσυμβωτὸν κοὶ κίδαριν κοὶ ζώνην. καὶ ποιήσουσιν στολὰς ἡ ίας Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ ἱερατεύειν μοι.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Hæc autem erunt vestimenta quæ faciet: rationale et superhumerale, tunicam et lineam strictam, cidarim et balteum. Facient vestimenta sancta fratri tuo Aaron et filiis ejus, ut sacerdotio fungantur mihi.
Estas son las ropas que deberán hacerle: un pectoral, un efod, un manto, una túnica bordada, un turbante y un cinturón. Harán estas ropas sagradas para tu hermano Aarón y para sus hijos, para que me sirvan como sacerdotes.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Los vestidos que harán son estos: el racional, y el ephod, y el manto, y la túnica labrada, la mitra, y el cinturón. Hagan, pues, los sagrados vestidos á Aarón tu hermano, y á sus hijos, para que sean mis sacerdotes.
These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make these holy garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so that they may serve Me as priests.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse lists six garments to be made — breastpiece, ephod, robe, checkered tunic, turban, and sash — and states that these "holy garments" are for Aaron and his sons, so that they may serve as priests. The list is introduced by a demonstrative construction and closed by a purpose clause naming the function of the garments.
Key words
- 'Eleh ("these", H0428) — demonstrative particle opening the sentence, pointing forward to the list of garments that follows.
- ya'aSu ("they will make", H6213H) — qal imperfect, marking the initial statement as ongoing/future action before the list is given.
- 'aSu ("they will make", H6213H) — same root as above, but here a sequential (waw-consecutive) perfect, continuing the narrative sequence after the list.
- Kodesh ("holiness", H6944G) — in construct with bigdei ("garments of", H0899B), forming "garments of holiness," a construct chain rather than an adjective+noun pairing.
- kha.ha.no ("serve as priest", H3547) — piel infinitive construct, expressing purpose ("in order to serve as priest"), intensified stem indicating a formal, official function.
What the text says
The verse opens with ve-'Eleh ha-begadim ("and these [are] the garments"), a nominal clause using the demonstrative 'Eleh (H0428) with the definite article on begadim (H0899B, "garments"), followed by the relative 'asher (H0834A, "which") introducing the clause of what "they will make" (ya'aSu, H6213H, qal imperfect). The six items — choshen (H2833), 'efod (H0646), me'il (H4598), khetonet tashbetz (H3801 + H8665, a construct pair "tunic of checkered-work"), mitznefet (H4701), and 'avnet (H0073) — are simply juxtaposed with the conjunction ve- (H9002) between most of them, without repeating a verb, since the list depends on the single verb ya'aSu.
The second half of the verse begins with a new clause using ve-'aSu (H6213H), a sequential perfect continuing the narrative after the list, rather than a repetition of the initial imperfect. Here the object is bigdei-Kodesh (H0899B + H6944G), a construct phrase literally "garments of holiness," followed by the beneficiaries le-'Aharon 'achikha ("for Aaron your brother," H0175 + H0251G with 2ms suffix) and u-le-vanav ("and for his sons," H1121A with 3ms suffix). The purpose is given by the piel infinitive construct le-khahano-li ("to serve as priest for/to me," H3547 with 1cs suffix -li, H9030), expressing the function these garments enable.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew choshen (H2833, "breastpiece") is rendered rationale in the Vulgate and τὸ περιστήθιον in the LXX (Swete text), both descriptive terms rather than direct transliterations. The Hebrew construct khetonet tashbetz ("tunic of checkered-work") appears in the LXX as χιτῶνα κοσυμβωτόν ("tasseled/fringed tunic") and in the Vulgate as tunicam et lineam strictam ("a tunic and a tight linen [garment]"), splitting what the Hebrew presents as a single construct item into two Latin nouns.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.