“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.
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.
- BSB “You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
- 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.
- 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 38:1–7He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. It was square. Its length was five cubits, its width was five cubits, and its height was three cubits.
- Exod 20:24–26You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.
- 2 Sam 24:18Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
- 2 Chr 4:1Then he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
- Exod 40:10You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar will be most holy.
- Exod 40:29He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Heb 13:10We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat.
- Ezek 43:13–17These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a hand width): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the width a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; and this shall be the base of the altar.
- Exod 24:4Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and 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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