“You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square: and its height shall be three cubits.
- KJV And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.
- NKJV “You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits.
- NASB “Now you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits.
- NLT “Using acacia wood, construct a square altar 7-1/2 feet wide, 7-1/2 feet long, and 4-1/2 feet high.
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
In the courtyard, a square altar of acacia wood, five cubits each side and three high, was to be made. This was the altar of burnt offering where sacrifices were made.
Overview
The large bronze altar stood in the court as the place of sacrifice, the first thing met on entering God's dwelling. Approach to God began at the altar, where atonement was made through blood. This sacrificial altar points directly to the cross, where Christ offered Himself once for all as the true and final sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10-14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Exod 38:1–7Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
- Exod 20:24–26You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
- 2 Sam 24:18And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
- 2 Chr 4:1He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
- Exod 40:10Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it shall be most holy.
- 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.
- Heb 13:10We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
- Ezek 43:13–17These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits (a cubit and a handbreadth): Its gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this is the height of the altar:
- Exod 24:4And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 27:1 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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