Exodus 28:42
Thou shalt make also linen breeches, to cover the flesh of their nakedness from the reins to the thighs:
Open Exodus 28:42 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Facies et feminalia linea, ut operiant carnem turpitudinis suæ, a renibus usque ad femora :
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from Exodus 28:38
- καὶ ποιήσεις αὐτοῖς περισκελῆ λινᾶ, καλύψαι ἀσχημοσύνην χρωτὸς αὐτῶν· ἀπὸ ὀσφύος ἕως μηρῶν ἔσται.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַעֲשֵׂ֤ה לָהֶם֙ מִכְנְסֵי בָ֔ד לְכַסּ֖וֹת בְּשַׂ֣ר עֶרְוָ֑ה מִמָּתְנַ֥יִם וְעַד יְרֵכַ֖יִם יִהְיֽוּ
Haydock's commentary
Linen breeches, descending as far as the knees. (St. Jerome) In chap. xxxix. 29, they seem to have been made of byssus, or cotton. But as linen is prescribed in all other places, perhaps a word has crept in there, by mistake of the transcribers. They were intended to remind the priests of superior modesty, as they were not commonly worn. Homer never mentions them. Virgil only specifies the cloak and tunic of Evander. Augustus wore breeches and stockings in winter. (Suetonius)
But the ancient breeches were not like ours, but resembled rather an apron or girdle, enveloping both thighs, and hanging from the waist. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XVIII. On the different functions of modesty. How it should qualify both speech and silence, accompany chastity, commend our prayers to God, govern our bodily motions; on which last point reference is made to two clerics in language by no means unsuited to its object. Further he proceeds to say that one's gait should be in accordance with that same virtue, and how careful one must be that nothing immodest come forth from one's mouth, or be noticed in one's body. All these points are illustrated with very appropriate examples
80. The priests, also, under the old law, as we read in Exodus, wore breeches, as it was told Moses by the Lord: “And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their shame: from the loins even to the thighs they shall reach, and Aaron and his sons shall wear them, when they enter into the tabernacle of witness, and when they come unto the altar of the holy place to offer sacrifice, that they lay not sin upon themselves and die.” Some of us are said still to observe this, but most explain it spiritually, and suppose it was said with a view to guarding modesty and preserving chastity.