The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh.
- BSB There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”
- NKJV The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its sides were of wood; and he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”
- NASB The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; its corners, its base, and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”
- NLT There was an altar made of wood, 5-1/4 feet high and 3-1/2 feet across. Its corners, base, and sides were all made of wood. “This,” the man told me, “is the table that stands in the Lord’s presence.”
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
A wooden altar stood before the sanctuary, which the guide calls the table before Yahweh. It marks the place of communion in God's presence.
Overview
The guide identifies a wooden altar, likely the altar of incense or the table of showbread, as the table before the Lord. It signified continual fellowship and offering before God. This table foreshadows the communion believers enjoy with God through Christ, who is the bread of life and our peace (John 6:35, Ephesians 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mal 1:7Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
- Ezek 44:16They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
- Ezek 23:41And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
- Mal 1:12But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
- 1 Kgs 6:20And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
- Exod 30:1–3And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
- Lev 24:6And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.
- Rev 8:3And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
- 1 Kgs 6:22And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.
- Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
- Exod 30:8And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
- Prov 9:2She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.
- 1 Cor 10:21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
- Exod 25:28–30And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
- Song 1:12While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
- 1 Kgs 7:48And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,
- 2 Chr 4:19And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon the shewbread was set;
- Exod 25:23Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
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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 41:22 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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