Exodus 30:1-5

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.

Exodus 40:5

40:5 You are to put ¹⁴  the gold altar for incense in front of the ark of the testimony and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

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.

Exodus 40:2

40:2 “On the first day of the first month you are to set up ¹⁵  the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.

Exodus 26:16

26:16 Each ¹⁶  frame is to be fifteen feet long, and each frame is to be two feet three inches wide,

Matthew 23:19

23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

Luke 1:9-10

1:9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, ¹⁷  to enter ¹⁸  the holy place ¹⁹  of the Lord and burn incense. 1:10 Now ²⁰  the whole crowd ²¹  of people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering. ²² 

Hebrews 7:25

7:25 So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Hebrews 13:10

13:10 We have an altar that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat from.

Hebrews 13:1

Final Exhortations

13:1 Brotherly love must continue.

Hebrews 2:5

Exposition of Psalm 8: Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity

2:5 For he did not put the world to come, ²³  about which we are speaking, ²⁴  under the control of angels.

Revelation 8:3-4

8:3 Another ²⁵  angel holding ²⁶  a golden censer ²⁷  came and was stationed ²⁸  at the altar. A ²⁹  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 ³⁰  smoke coming from the incense, ³¹  along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.

[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.”

[40:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “give” (also four additional times in vv. 6-8).

[40:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you will raise,” an imperfect of instruction.

[26:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the frame.”

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “according to the custom of the priesthood it fell to him by lot.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to make it clear that the prepositional phrase κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἱερατείας (kata to eqo" th" Jierateia", “according to the custom of the priesthood”) modifies the phrase “it fell to him by lot” rather than the preceding clause.

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tn This is an aorist participle and is temporally related to the offering of incense, not to when the lot fell.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “temple.” Such sacrifices, which included the burning of incense, would have occurred in the holy place according to the Mishnah (m. Tamid 1.2; 3.1; 5-7). A priest would have given this sacrifice, which was offered for the nation, once in one’s career. It would be offered either at 9 a.m. or 3 p.m., since it was made twice a day.

[1:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And,” but “now” better represents the somewhat parenthetical nature of this statement in the flow of the narrative.

[1:10]  ²¹ tn Grk “all the multitude.” While “assembly” is sometimes used here to translate πλῆθος (plhqo"), that term usually implies in English a specific or particular group of people. However, this was simply a large group gathered outside, which was not unusual, especially for the afternoon offering.

[1:10]  ²² tn The “hour of the incense offering” is another way to refer to the time of sacrifice.

[2:5]  ²³ sn The phrase the world to come means “the coming inhabited earth,” using the Greek term which describes the world of people and their civilizations.

[2:5]  ²⁴ sn See the previous reference to the world in Heb 1:6.

[8:3]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[8:3]  ²⁶ tn Grk “having.”

[8:3]  ²⁷ sn A golden censer was a bowl in which incense was burned. The imagery suggests the OT role of the priest.

[8:3]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[8:4]  ³¹ 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.