There were also four tables of finished stone for preparation of the burnt offerings, each 31-1/2 inches square and 21 inches high. On these tables were placed the butchering knives and other implements for slaughtering the sacrificial animals.
Parallel translations
- WEB There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
- KJV And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
- BSB There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offering, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit high. On these were placed the utensils used to slaughter the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices.
- NKJV There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, one cubit and a half long, one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high; on these they laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
- NASB For the burnt offering there were four tables of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which they set the utensils with which they slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
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
Four cut-stone tables were sized to hold the instruments used for the burnt offering. The careful measurements show God's concern for every element of true worship.
Overview
These dressed-stone tables, precisely measured, held the implements of sacrifice. The specificity recalls earlier Mosaic concern that worship follow God's pattern, not human invention (Exodus 25:40). Such order points forward to Christ, in whom worship is no longer about implements but about himself, the true and final offering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Ezek 40:39In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.
- Exod 20:25If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 40:42 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.