13 And thou shalt make ouches of gold;

14 And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.

15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.

16 Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.

Ouches is another word for settings: recessed receptacles to hold the onyx stones mentioned in the previous verses. These would be attached to the shoulder, and golden chains would run from them to the breastplate that sat upon the chest.

I have seen some images where the breastplate is rigid and made of some metal, usually gold. I have also seen images where the breastplate appears to be made of woven cloth. I assume the metal presentation comes from the name of the article: breastplate, which we most often identify as a metal piece of armor. Verse 15, however, suggests that the cloth interpretation is correct. It sounds as though it was made of the same dyed linen that the ephod was, and probably blended in with it.

We are told that the breastplate was a square, one span on each side. A span was half of a cubit, which was about a foot-and-a-half. A span would therefore be about nine inches, which is well-fitted to the chest of an adult. Of course, the truly notable element of the breastplate was not the body of it, but the stones that were embedded on its face. We will examine those tomorrow.