Exodus 30:1-6

The Altar of Incense

30:1 ¹ “You are to make an altar for burning incense; ²  you are to make it of ³  acacia wood. ⁴  30:2 Its length is to be a foot and a half ⁵  and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, ⁶  with its horns of one piece with it. ⁷  30:3 You are to overlay it with pure gold – its top, ⁸  its four walls, ⁹  and its horns – and make a surrounding border of gold for it. ¹⁰  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. ¹¹  The rings ¹²  will be places ¹³  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.

Exodus 37:25-29

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. ¹⁴  37:26 He overlaid it with pure gold – its top, ¹⁵  its four walls, ¹⁶  and its horns – and he made a surrounding border of gold for it. ¹⁷  37:27 He also made ¹⁸  two gold rings for it under its border, on its two sides, on opposite sides, ¹⁹  as places ²⁰  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.

Exodus 40:26-27

40:26 And he put the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain, 40:27 and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Leviticus 16:13

16:13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement plate which is above the ark of the testimony, ²¹  so that he will not die. ²² 

Revelation 8:3-4

8:3 Another ²³  angel holding ²⁴  a golden censer ²⁵  came and was stationed ²⁶  at the altar. A ²⁷  large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne. 8:4 The ²⁸  smoke coming from the incense, ²⁹  along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.

Revelation 9:13

9:13 Then ³⁰  the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the ³¹  horns on the golden altar that is before God,

[30:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn This is an adverbial accusative explaining the material used in building the altar.

[30:1]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “a cubit.”

[30:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “two cubits.”

[30:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “its horns from it.”

[30:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “roof.”

[30:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “its walls around.”

[30:3]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “for houses.”

[37:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from it were its horns,” meaning that they were made from the same piece.

[37:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “roof.”

[37:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “its walls around.”

[37:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he made for it border gold around.”

[37:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he made.”

[37:27]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for houses.”

[16:13]  ²¹ tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).

[16:13]  ²² tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2 above).

[8:3]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[8:3]  ²⁴ tn Grk “having.”

[8:3]  ²⁵ sn A golden censer was a bowl in which incense was burned. The imagery suggests the OT role of the priest.

[8:3]  ²⁶ tn The verb “to station” was used to translate ἑστάθη (Jestaqh) because it connotes the idea of purposeful arrangement in English, which seems to be the idea in the Greek.

[8:3]  ²⁷ 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.

[8:4]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[8:4]  ²⁹ tn The expression τῶν θυμιαμάτων (twn qumiamatwn) is taken as a “genitive of producer,” i.e., the noun in the genitive produces the head noun.

[9:13]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[9:13]  ³¹ tc ‡ Several key mss (Ì⁴⁷ א¹ A 0207 1611 2053 2344 pc lat sy^h co) lack the word τεσσάρων (tessarwn, “four”) before κεράτων (keratwn, “horns”). The word seems to have been added by scribes because a “horned” altar (described in the OT [Exod 30:2, 10]) could have only four “horns” or projections at the corners. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.