Exodus 28:11

28:11 You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; ¹  you are to have them set ²  in gold filigree ³  settings.

Exodus 28:21

28:21 The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of ⁴  their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like ⁵  the engravings of a seal.

Exodus 28:36

28:36 “You are to make a plate ⁶  of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved: ⁷  “Holiness to the Lord.” ⁸ 

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¹ sn Expert stone or gem engravers were used to engrave designs and names in identification seals of various sizes. It was work that skilled artisans did.

² tn Or “you will mount them” (NRSV similar).

³ tn Or “rosettes,” shield-like frames for the stones. The Hebrew word means “to plait, checker.”

⁴ tn For clarity the words “the number of” have been supplied.

⁵ tn The phrase translated “the engravings of a seal” is an adverbial accusative of manner here.

⁶ tn The word צִּיץ (tsits) seems to mean “a shining thing” and so here a plate of metal. It originally meant “flower,” but they could not write on a flower. So it must have the sense of something worn openly, visible, and shining. The Rabbinic tradition says it was two fingers wide and stretched from ear to ear, but this is an attempt to give details that the Law does not give (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 818).

⁷ tn Heb “the engravings of a seal”; this phrase is an adverbial accusative of manner.

⁸ sn The engraving was a perpetual reminder of the holiness that was due the Lord (Heb “Yahweh”), that all the clothing, the furnishings, and the activities were to come under that description. This corresponded to the symbolism for the whole nation of binding the law between the eyes. It was to be a perpetual reminder of commitment.