Exodus 30:18-21

30:18 “You are also to make a large bronze ¹  basin with a bronze stand ²  for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it, ³  30:19 and Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it. ⁴  30:20 When they enter ⁵  the tent of meeting, they must wash with ⁶  water so that they do not die. ⁷  Also, when they approach ⁸  the altar to minister by burning incense ⁹  as an offering made by fire ¹⁰  to the Lord, 30:21 they must wash ¹¹  their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this ¹²  will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants ¹³  throughout their generations.” ¹⁴ 

Exodus 30:1

The Altar of Incense

30:1 ¹⁵ “You are to make an altar for burning incense; ¹⁶  you are to make it of ¹⁷  acacia wood. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 7:23

7:23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this. ¹⁹ 

Zechariah 13:1

The Refinement of Judah

13:1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty ²⁰  of David and the people of Jerusalem ²¹  to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ²² 

Titus 3:5

3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Revelation 7:14

7:14 So ²³  I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” ²⁴  Then ²⁵  he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They ²⁶  have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

[30:18]  ¹ sn The metal for this object was obtained from the women from their mirrors (see Exod 38:8).

[30:18]  ² tn Heb “and its stand bronze.”

[30:18]  ³ tn The form is the adverb “there” with the directive qamets-he ( ָה).

[30:19]  ⁴ tn That is, from water from it.

[30:20]  ⁵ tn The form is an infinitive construct with the temporal preposition bet (ב), and a suffixed subjective genitive: “in their going in,” or, whenever they enter.

[30:20]  ⁶ tn “Water” is an adverbial accusative of means, and so is translated “with water.” Gesenius classifies this with verbs of “covering with something.” But he prefers to emend the text with a preposition (see GKC 369 §117.y, n. 1).

[30:20]  ⁷ tn The verb is a Qal imperfect with a nuance of final imperfect. The purpose/result clause here is indicated only with the conjunction: “and they do not die.” But clearly from the context this is the intended result of their washing – it is in order that they not die.

[30:20]  ⁸ tn Here, too, the infinitive is used in a temporal clause construction. The verb נָגַשׁ (nagash) is the common verb used for drawing near to the altar to make offerings – the official duties of the priest.

[30:20]  ⁹ tn The text uses two infinitives construct: “to minister to burn incense”; the first is the general term and expresses the purpose of the drawing near, and the second infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first infinitive.

[30:20]  ¹⁰ tn The translation “as an offering made by fire” is a standard rendering of the one word in the text that appears to refer to “fire.” Milgrom and others contend that it simply means a “gift” (Leviticus 1-16, 161).

[30:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [then] they will wash.”

[30:21]  ¹² tn The verb is “it will be.”

[30:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “for his seed.”

[30:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for generations to come”; it literally is “to their generations.”

[30:1]  ¹⁵ sn Why this section has been held until now is a mystery. One would have expected to find it with the instructions for the other furnishings. The widespread contemporary view that it was composed later does not answer the question, it merely moves the issue to the work of an editor rather than the author. N. M. Sarna notes concerning the items in chapter 30 that “all the materials for these final items were anticipated in the list of invited donations in 25:3-6” and that they were not needed for installing Aaron and his sons (Exodus [JPSTC], 193). Verses 1-10 can be divided into three sections: the instructions for building the incense altar (1-5), its placement (6), and its proper use (7-10).

[30:1]  ¹⁶ tn The expression is מִזְבֵּחַ מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת (mizbeakh miqtar qÿtoret), either “an altar, namely an altar of incense,” or “an altar, [for] burning incense.” The second noun is “altar of incense,” although some suggest it is an active noun meaning “burning.” If the former, then it is in apposition to the word for “altar” (which is not in construct). The last noun is “incense” or “sweet smoke.” It either qualifies the “altar of incense” or serves as the object of the active noun. B. Jacob says that in order to designate that this altar be used only for incense, the Torah prepared the second word for this passage alone. It specifies the kind of altar this is (Exodus, 828).

[30:1]  ¹⁷ tn This is an adverbial accusative explaining the material used in building the altar.

[30:1]  ¹⁸ sn See M. Haran, “The Uses of Incense in Ancient Israel Ritual,” VT 10 (1960): 113-15; N. Glueck, “Incense Altars,” Translating and Understanding the Old Testament, 325-29.

[7:23]  ¹⁹ tn The text has וְלֹא־שָׁת לִבּוֹ גַּם־לָזֹאת (vÿlo’-shat libbo gam-lazo’t), which literally says, “and he did not set his heart also to this.” To “set the heart” to something would mean “to consider it.” This Hebrew idiom means that he did not pay attention to it, or take it to heart (cf. 2 Sam 13:20; Ps 48:13; 62:10; Prov 22:17; 24:32). Since Pharaoh had not been affected by this, he did not consider it or its implications further.

[13:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV), referring to dynastic descendants.

[13:1]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:1]  ²² tn Heb “for sin and for impurity.” The purpose implied here has been stated explicitly in the translation for clarity.

[7:14]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the previous question.

[7:14]  ²⁴ tn Though the expression “the answer” is not in the Greek text, it is clearly implied. Direct objects in Greek were frequently omitted when clear from the context.

[7:14]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[7:14]  ²⁶ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.