High Priest’s clothing

The High Priest’s clothing consisted of eight items. First he put on, as an undergarment, a pair of linen shorts. Over these he wore the tunic, a kind of long shirt, and then he wrapped a sash around his waist. Over all of this, he put on a long blue robe. Next came the ephod, which was a kind of apron with its own belt and shoulder straps. Between the straps and the belt of the ephod was a jeweled breastpiece. The biblical description does not make it clear if the shoulder straps of the ephod reached all the way to the waist in the front (as shown in the illustration at the right), or if the breastpiece with its cords formed the bridge between the shoulder straps and the top of the ephod at the waist. Tied around his forehead was a gold plate, and on top of his head he wore a sort of turban.

The precise identification of the various articles of clothing is very difficult. In some cases the exact meaning is unknown. The translator should try to visualize the whole outfit and then formulate it in a way that is meaningful to the readers. Footnotes may be necessary in order to emphasize the fact that the full set of clothing mentioned here was special and reserved for the High Priest. Some of this clothing was also worn by the other priests. The practice of transliterating the Hebrew terminology should be avoided if at all possible, but if no other solution can be found, a footnote or glossary explanation will definitely be required.