Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
Parallel translations
- WEB He 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.
- KJV And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.
- NKJV He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood; five cubits was its length and five cubits its width—it was square—and its height was three cubits.
- NASB Then he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high.
- NLT Next Bezalel used acacia wood to construct the square altar of burnt offering. It was 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
The altar of burnt offering was made of acacia wood, a large square altar three cubits high. On it the sacrifices for sin were offered.
Overview
This bronze altar stood in the courtyard as the first thing encountered, where atoning sacrifices were burned. It teaches that approach to a holy God requires blood and sacrifice. The continual offerings here point to Christ, the once-for-all sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:10-12). The dimensions follow Exodus 27:1.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Exod 27:1–8“You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
- Exod 40:6Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
- 2 Chr 4:1He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
- 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:
- Rev 21:16The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height.
- Heb 13:10We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
- 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.
- 1 Pet 2:5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- Heb 13:8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
- John 6:37Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.
- Rom 8:3–4For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
- Rom 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
- Heb 3:1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
- Heb 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 38:1 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
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.