Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall make it with hollow planks. They shall make it as it has been shown you on the mountain.
- KJV Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.
- NKJV You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.
- NASB You shall make it hollow with planks; as it was shown to you on the mountain, so they shall make it.
- NLT The altar must be hollow, made from planks. Build it just as you were shown on the mountain.
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
The altar was to be made of hollow planks, exactly as shown to Moses on the mountain. Once more, faithful adherence to God's pattern was commanded.
Overview
Built hollow with boards, the altar followed the divine design revealed on Sinai. The repeated emphasis on the mountain pattern shows that even the altar of sacrifice conformed to God's revelation. As with the whole sanctuary, its God-given design pointed beyond itself to the heavenly realities fulfilled in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Exod 25:40See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Exod 25:9You must make the tabernacle and design all its furnishings according to the pattern I show you.
- Heb 8:5The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
- Matt 15:9They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”
- 1 Chr 28:11Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.
- 1 Chr 28:19“All this,” said David, “all the details of this plan, the LORD has made clear to me in writing by His hand upon me.”
- Exod 26:30–37So you are to set up the tabernacle according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Col 2:20–23If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 27:8 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.