He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the LORD) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.
Parallel translations
- WEB The bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and Yahweh’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar.
- KJV And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.
- NKJV He also brought the bronze altar which was before the Lord, from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the house of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.
- NASB And the bronze altar, which was before the Lord, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of the Lord, and he put it on the north side of his altar.
- NLT Then King Ahaz removed the old bronze altar from its place in front of the Lord’s Temple, between the entrance and the new altar, and placed it on the north side of the new altar.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ahaz moves the LORD's bronze altar aside to give his new altar the prime position. He literally displaces God's appointed worship.
Overview
The bronze altar made according to God's design is shoved to a secondary spot, while Ahaz's innovation takes center place before the temple. This physical rearrangement enacts a spiritual reordering: human invention is honored above divine command. It vividly portrays the idolatry of preferring our own ways to the worship God has ordained.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 2 Chr 4:1He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
- Exod 40:6Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
- Exod 40:29He placed the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as the LORD had commanded him.
- 2 Kgs 16:11And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it by the time King Ahaz had returned.
- Matt 23:35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
- 2 Chr 1:5But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, was in Gibeon before the tabernacle of the LORD. So Solomon and the assembly inquired of Him there.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 16:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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