Exodus 28:6

Summary

The verse instructs that "they" (skilled workers, per the surrounding context) will make the ephod ("ephod", H0646) out of gold thread, violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and twisted fine linen, describing it as the product of a skilled craftsman's work.

Key words

• 'a.Su ("they will make", H6213H) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of instructions begun earlier in the chapter; grammatically it functions as a future/injunctive form ("they shall make").
• 'e.Fod ("ephod", H0646) — masculine singular noun, marked as definite and as direct object by 'et, identifying the specific garment being fabricated.
• za.ho ("gold", H2091) — masculine singular noun standing in apposition to 'ephod, the first of five materials listed asyndetically (without connecting "and") before the coordinated pairs that follow.
• to.La.'at ("scarlet stuff of", H8438B) — feminine singular construct noun, syntactically bound to sha.Ni ("scarlet", H8144), forming the phrase "scarlet-stuff of scarlet," a construct pairing that intensifies the color designation.
• ma.'a.Seh ("[the] work of", H4639G) construct + cho.Shev ("a skillful worker", H2803G) qal participle — together form a construct chain, literally "work of a designer/deviser," describing the manner of production rather than naming an object.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav on 'a.Su, tying this instruction to the preceding sequence of directives for priestly garments. The direct object ha-'ephod is introduced with the object marker 'et and the definite article, then followed by five material nouns—zahav, tekhelet, 'argaman, tola'at shani, shesh—listed in apposition without a governing preposition; the first noun (zahav) has no conjunction before it, while the remaining four are joined in pairs by ve-. This asyndetic beginning followed by paired conjunctions is a stylistic feature not reproduced in translations, which typically insert "of" or "and" uniformly throughout the list.

The final phrase, ma'aseh choshev, is a construct chain meaning "the work of a deviser/planner," where choshev is a qal participle describing an agent who designs or plans, rather than a specific technical term for weaving or embroidery. The construct structure ties the manner of craftsmanship grammatically to the preceding list of materials, indicating that the materials themselves are shaped through this particular kind of skilled work.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders only "ἐκ βύσσου κεκλωσμένης" ("of twisted fine linen") and "ἔργον ὑφάντου ποικιλτοῦ" ("work of a weaver, an embroiderer"), omitting explicit mention of zahav ("gold"), tekhelet ("violet stuff"), 'argaman ("purple"), and tola'at shani ("scarlet stuff of scarlet") found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate, by contrast, lists all materials ("de auro et hyacintho et purpura, coccoque bis tincto, et bysso retorta") and translates the construct chain ma'aseh choshev as "opere polymito" ("in varicolored/embroidered work"), a single descriptive term rather than the Hebrew's two-word construct phrase naming an agent.