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.
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.
- BSB Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
- 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 27:1–8And 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.
- Exod 40:6And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.
- 2 Chr 4:1Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof.
- Ezek 43:13–17And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.
- Rev 21:16And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
- Heb 13:10We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
- Exod 40:29And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the LORD commanded Moses.
- 1 Pet 2:5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
- Heb 13:8Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
- John 6:37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
- Rom 8:3–4For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
- Rom 12:1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
- Heb 3:1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
- Heb 9:14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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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 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
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