Exodus 27:1-8

The Altar

27:1 “You are to make the ¹  altar of acacia wood, seven feet six inches long, ²  and seven feet six inches wide; the altar is to be square, ³  and its height is to be ⁴  four feet six inches. 27:2 You are to make its four horns ⁵  on its four corners; its horns will be part of it, ⁶  and you are to overlay it with bronze. 27:3 You are to make its pots for the ashes, ⁷  its shovels, its tossing bowls, ⁸  its meat hooks, and its fire pans – you are to make all ⁹  its utensils of bronze. 27:4 You are to make a grating ¹⁰  for it, a network of bronze, and you are to make on the network four bronze rings on its four corners. 27:5 You are to put it under the ledge of the altar below, so that the network will come ¹¹  halfway up the altar. ¹²  27:6 You are to make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you are to overlay them with bronze. 27:7 The poles are to be put ¹³  into the rings so that the poles will be on two sides of the altar when carrying it. ¹⁴  27:8 You are to make the altar hollow, out of boards. Just as it was shown you ¹⁵  on the mountain, so they must make it. ¹⁶ 

Exodus 30:1-10

The Altar of Incense

30:1 ¹⁷ “You are to make an altar for burning incense; ¹⁸  you are to make it of ¹⁹  acacia wood. ²⁰  30:2 Its length is to be a foot and a half ²¹  and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, ²²  with its horns of one piece with it. ²³  30:3 You are to overlay it with pure gold – its top, ²⁴  its four walls, ²⁵  and its horns – and make a surrounding border of gold for it. ²⁶  30:4 You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. ²⁷  The rings ²⁸  will be places ²⁹  for poles to carry it with. 30:5 You are to make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

30:6 “You are to put it in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony (before the atonement lid that is over the testimony), where I will meet you. 30:7 Aaron is to burn sweet incense ³⁰  on it morning by morning; when he attends ³¹  to the lamps he is to burn incense. ³²  30:8 When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. 30:9 You must not offer strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it. 30:10 Aaron is to make atonement on its horns once in the year with some of the blood of the sin offering for atonement; ³³  once in the year ³⁴  he is to make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” ³⁵ 

Exodus 37:25--38:7

The Making of the Altar of Incense

37:25 He made the incense altar of acacia wood. Its length was a foot and a half and its width a foot and a half – a square – and its height was three feet. Its horns were of one piece with it. ³⁶  37:26 He overlaid it with pure gold – its top, ³⁷  its four walls, ³⁸  and its horns – and he made a surrounding border of gold for it. ³⁹  37:27 He also made ⁴⁰  two gold rings for it under its border, on its two sides, on opposite sides, ⁴¹  as places ⁴²  for poles to carry it with. 37:28 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

37:29 He made the sacred anointing oil and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

The Making of the Altar for the Burnt Offering

38:1 He made the altar for the burnt offering of acacia wood seven feet six inches long and seven feet six inches wide – it was square – and its height was four feet six inches. 38:2 He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it, ⁴³  and he overlaid it with bronze. 38:3 He made all the utensils of the altar – the pots, the shovels, the tossing bowls, the meat hooks, and the fire pans – he made all its utensils of bronze. 38:4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom. 38:5 He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, to provide places for the poles. 38:6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 38:7 He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made the altar ⁴⁴  hollow, out of boards.

[27:1]  ¹ tn The article on this word identifies this as the altar, meaning the main high altar on which the sacrifices would be made.

[27:1]  ² tn The dimensions are five cubits by five cubits by three cubits high.

[27:1]  ³ tn Heb “four”; this refers to four sides. S. R. Driver says this is an archaism that means there were four equal sides (Exodus, 291).

[27:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and three cubits its height.”

[27:2]  ⁵ sn The horns of the altar were indispensable – they were the most sacred part. Blood was put on them; fugitives could cling to them, and the priests would grab the horns of the little altar when making intercessory prayer. They signified power, as horns on an animal did in the wild (and so the word was used for kings as well). The horns may also represent the sacrificial animals killed on the altar.

[27:2]  ⁶ sn The text, as before, uses the prepositional phrase “from it” or “part of it” to say that the horns will be part of the altar – of the same piece as the altar. They were not to be made separately and then attached, but made at the end of the boards used to build the altar (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 363).

[27:3]  ⁷ sn The word is literally “its fat,” but sometimes it describes “fatty ashes” (TEV “the greasy ashes”). The fat would run down and mix with the ashes, and this had to be collected and removed.

[27:3]  ⁸ sn This was the larger bowl used in tossing the blood at the side of the altar.

[27:3]  ⁹ tn The text has “to all its vessels.” This is the lamed (ל) of inclusion according to Gesenius, meaning “all its utensils” (GKC 458 §143.e).

[27:4]  ¹⁰ tn The noun מִכְבָּר (mikhbar) means “a grating”; it is related to the word that means a “sieve.” This formed a vertical support for the ledge, resting on the ground and supporting its outer edge (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 292).

[27:5]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the verb “to be,” here the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It is “and it will be” or “that it may be,” or here “that it may come” halfway up.

[27:5]  ¹² tn Heb “to the half of the altar.”

[27:7]  ¹³ tn The verb is a Hophal perfect with vav consecutive: וְהוּבָא (vÿhuva’, “and it will be brought”). The particle אֶת (’et) here introduces the subject of the passive verb (see a similar use in 21:28, “and its flesh will not be eaten”).

[27:7]  ¹⁴ tn The construction is the infinitive construct with bet (ב) preposition: “in carrying it.” Here the meaning must be that the poles are not left in the rings, but only put into the rings when they carried it.

[27:8]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is used impersonally; it reads “just as he showed you.” This form then can be made a passive in the translation.

[27:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “thus they will make.” Here too it could be given a passive translation since the subject is not expressed. But “they” would normally refer to the people who will be making this and so can be retained in the translation.

[30:1]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn This is an adverbial accusative explaining the material used in building the altar.

[30:1]  ²⁰ 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.

[30:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “a cubit.”

[30:2]  ²² tn Heb “two cubits.”

[30:2]  ²³ tn Heb “its horns from it.”

[30:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “roof.”

[30:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “its walls around.”

[30:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and make for it border gold around.” The verb is a consecutive perfect. See Exod 25:11, where the ark also has such a molding.

[30:4]  ²⁷ sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second clause clarifies that the rings should be on the sides, the right and the left, as you approach the altar.

[30:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And it”; this refers to the rings collectively in their placement on the box, and so the word “rings” has been used to clarify the referent for the modern reader.

[30:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for houses.”

[30:7]  ³⁰ tn The text uses a cognate accusative (“incense”) with the verb “to burn” or “to make into incense/sweet smoke.” Then, the noun “sweet spices” is added in apposition to clarify the incense as sweet.

[30:7]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew is בְּהֵיטִיבוֹ (bÿhetivo), a Hiphil infinitive construct serving in a temporal clause. The Hebrew verb means “to make good” and so in this context “to fix” or “to dress.” This refers to cleansing and trimming the lamps.

[30:7]  ³² sn The point of the little golden altar of incense is normally for intercessory prayer, and then at the Day of Atonement for blood applied atonement. The instructions for making it show that God wanted his people to make a place for prayer. The instructions for its use show that God expects that the requests of his people will be pleasing to him.

[30:10]  ³³ tn The word “atonements” (plural in Hebrew) is a genitive showing the result or product of the sacrifice made.

[30:10]  ³⁴ sn This ruling presupposes that the instruction for the Day of Atonement has been given, or at the very least, is to be given shortly. That is the one day of the year that all sin and all ritual impurity would be removed.

[30:10]  ³⁵ sn The phrase “most holy to the Lord” means that the altar cannot be used for any other purpose than what is stated here.

[37:25]  ³⁶ tn Heb “from it were its horns,” meaning that they were made from the same piece.

[37:26]  ³⁷ tn Heb “roof.”

[37:26]  ³⁸ tn Heb “its walls around.”

[37:26]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and he made for it border gold around.”

[37:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and he made.”

[37:27]  ⁴¹ sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second mention of their location clarifies that they should be on the sides, the right and the left, as one approached the altar.

[37:27]  ⁴² tn Heb “for houses.”

[38:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “its horns were from it,” meaning from the same piece.

[38:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the altar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.