The altar hearth is four cubits high, with four horns extending upward from the hearth.
Parallel translations
- WEB The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns.
- KJV So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.
- BSB The altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and four horns shall project upward from the hearth.
- NASB The altar hearth shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth shall extend upward four horns.
- NLT The top of the altar, the hearth, rises another 7 feet higher, with a horn rising up from each of the four corners.
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 top of the altar, the hearth where offerings burn, is measured and crowned with four horns.
Overview
The hearth is the place where the sacrifice is consumed by fire, and the four horns mark it as a place of atonement and refuge. Horns in Scripture symbolize strength and were touched with sacrificial blood for cleansing. This altar foreshadows Christ, on whom the fire of judgment fell so that sinners might find mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Exod 27:2You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it; and you shall overlay it with brass.
- Lev 9:9The sons of Aaron presented the blood to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar:
- Ps 118:27Yahweh is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.
- 1 Kgs 2:28This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar.
- Isa 29:7The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
- Isa 29:1–2Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
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How Ezekiel 43:15 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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