39:6 They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal 2 with the names of the sons of Israel. 3
1 sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 375-76) points out that these are the same precious stones mentioned in Ezek 28:13 that were to be found in Eden, the garden of God. So the priest, when making atonement, was to wear the precious gems that were there and symbolized the garden of Eden when man was free from sin.
2 tn Or “as seals are engraved.”
3 sn The twelve names were those of Israel’s sons. The idea was not the remembrance of the twelve sons as such, but the twelve tribes that bore their names.