Exodus 28:34

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe round about.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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פַּעֲמֹ֤ן

paʻămôn

H6472

“bell of”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 7× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 28:33

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6471

TWOT: 1793b

bell - on high priest's robe

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is פַּעֲמֹ֤ן bell H6472 — appearing just 7 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

פַּעֲמֹ֤ן bell H6472 occurs in 4 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

9 nouns
1 preposition

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

פַּעֲמֹ֤ן bell H6472 ×2
זָהָב֙ gold H2091 ×2
וְרִמּ֔וֹן pomegranate H7416 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 51 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 28:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 89:15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
Song of Solomon 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, His fruit was sweet to my taste.
Song of Solomon 4:3 Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Song of Solomon 4:13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: Henna with spikenard plants,
Song of Solomon 6:7 Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Song of Solomon 6:11 I went down into the nut tree grove, To see the green plants of the valley, To see whether the vine budded, And the pomegranates were in flower.
Song of Solomon 8:2 I would lead you, bringing you into my mother's house, Who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate.
John 15:4–8 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

John 15:16 You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Colossians 1:5–6 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel,
Colossians 1:10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 51 words vs World English Bible 20. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 28:34 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

פַּעֲמֹ֤ן זָהָב֙ וְרִמּ֔וֹן פַּֽעֲמֹ֥ן זָהָ֖ב וְרִמּ֑וֹן עַל שׁוּלֵ֥י הַמְּעִ֖יל סָבִֽיב

a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe round about.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 28:34 Septuagint · lemma form

παρά ῥοίσκος χρυσοῦς κώδων καί ἄνθινος ἐπί ὁ λῶμα ὁ ὑποδύτης κύκλος

And it shall be on the forehead of Aaron; and Aaron shall bear away the sins of their holy things, all that the children of Israel shall sanctify of every gift of their holy things, and it shall be on the forehead of Aaron continually acceptable for them before the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

זַגָא דְדַהֲבָא וְרִמוֹנָא זַגָא דְדַהֲבָא וְרִמוֹנָא עַל שִׁיפוֹלֵי מְעִילָא סְחוֹר סְחוֹר:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

חִיזוּרָא דְדַהֲבָא וְרִמוֹנָא דִתְכֶלְתָּא וְדִצְבַע זְהוֹרֵי חִיזוּרָא דְדַהֲבָא וְרִימוֹנָא דִתְכֶלְתָּא וְדִצְבַע זְהוֹרֵי עַל שִׁיפּוּלֵי מִינְטַר מְעִילָא חֲזוֹר חֲזוֹר סְכוּמְהוֹן שַׁבְעִין וְחַד

A golden bell, and a pomegranate of hyacinth and crimson; a golden bell, and a pomegranate of hyacinth and crimson upon the border of the robe round about; their number, seventy and one.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 28:34 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 28:34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.

Ver. 34. A golden bell and a pomegranate.] Shadowing out, (1.) The prophetic office of Christ here, and his perpetual intercession in heaven: (2) The duty of ministers; which is, Vivere concionibus, concionari moribus: to live sermons, to be fruitful as well as painful teachers: not like him of whom it was said, that when he was out of the pulpit, it was pity he should ever go into it: and when he was in the pulpit, it was pity he should ever come out of it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

a golden bell and a pomegranate--The bells were hung between the pomegranates, which were said to have amounted to seventy-two, and the use of them seems to have been to announce to the people when the high priest entered the most holy place, that they might accompany him with their prayers, and also to remind himself to be attired in his official dress, to minister without which was death.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

And it shall be upon Aaron to minister,.... That is, the robe before described shall be put upon him, that he might minister in the priest's office, for without this, as well as the other garments, he might not:

and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out; by means of which the priests would have notice that they might depart, and he be alone in his ministrations; or rather, that the people might know his going out and coming in, and so give themselves up to prayer, while he was offering incense, see Luk 1:9 though the instance of Zacharias is not of an high priest, but of a common priest:

that he die not the Targum of Jonathan adds, with flaming fire. This is added, to make him, and all succeeding priests, careful that this robe, nor any other of the priestly garments, were wanting, when they ministered before the Lord; should any be wanting, it would be highly resented by the Lord: and such an one would be in danger of being cut off by death from the immediate hand of God, as Nadab and Abihu were for offering strange fire to the Lord; for, according to the Jewish writers (e), a priest not rightly attired, either with more or fewer garments than he should have, his service was illegal, and he was as a stranger, and his service strange service, unacceptable to God, yea, provoking to him; and so Jarchi on the text says, if he wanted one of these garments, he was guilty of death by the hand of heaven, the immediate hand of God.

(e) Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 10. sect. 4, 5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 34, 35. A golden bell and a pomegranate. Hebrew tradition gives a most uncertain sound with respect to the number of the bells. According to some, they were 12 only; according to others, 72; according to a third school, 3651 Equally conflicting are the explanations given of their symbolism

(1) that they typified the proclamation and expounding of the law by the high-priest

(2) that they were a musical offering of praise

(3) that they marked kingly dignity, since Oriental kings sometimes wore bells and

(4) that they were a call to vigilance and attention. This last view is supported by the words of verse 35it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be hoard, or "that its sound may be heard." The bells were a means of uniting priest and people in one common service they enabled the people to enter into and second what the priest wasdoing for them, and so to render his mediation efficacious they made the people"s worship in the court of the sanctuary a "reasonable service." And hence the threat, which certainly does not extend to all the priestly garments, implied in the words, "that he die not." If the high priest neglected to wear the robe with the bells, he separated himself off from the people; made himself their substitute and not their mouthpiece; reduced their worship to a drear formality; deprived it of all heartiness and life and vigour. For thus abusing his office, he would deserve death, especially as he could not do it unwittingly, for his ears would tell him whether he was wearing the bells or not.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

פעמן זהב ורמון פעמן זהב ורמון means a golden bell and a pomegranate next to it.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is paʻămôn (“bell”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word paʻămôn carries the sense “bell.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Exodus 28:33, which shares the word «bell», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “bell” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
“bell” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.