What Is Breastpiece in the Bible?
Object
A piece of cloth with twelve precious stones that the high priest wore on his chest.
Where it appears in the Bible
Exodus 28:15-21
What the Bible says
Exodus 28:15-21
15And thou shalt make the rational of judgment with embroidered work of divers colours, according to the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen. 16It shall be foursquare and doubled: it shall be the measure of a span both in length and in breadth. 17And thou shalt set in it four rows of stones: in the first row shall be a sardius stone, and a topaz, and an emerald: 18In the second a carbuncle, a sapphire and a jasper. 19In the third a ligurius, an agate, and an amethyst: 20In the fourth a chrysolite, an onyx, and a beryl. They shall be set in gold by their rows. 21And they shall have the names of the children of Israel: with twelve names shall they be engraved, each stone with the name of one according to the twelve tribes.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: RAE, “pectoral”; Exodus 28:15-21