“Command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
Parallel translations
- KJV Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.
- BSB “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.
- NKJV “Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually.
- NASB “Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.
- NLT “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.
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
Israel was to supply pure beaten olive oil so the tabernacle lamp could burn continually. God's house was to have constant light.
Overview
The people themselves provided the costly, purified oil that kept the sanctuary lamp burning without interruption. The continual light signified God's abiding presence among his people and the unbroken nature of true worship. Christ later declared himself the light of the world (John 8:12), the reality this lamp foreshadowed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- 2 Cor 4:6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Eph 5:8–14For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
- Exod 27:20–21“You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
- John 8:12Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- Eph 1:17–18that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
- Acts 26:18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
- Phil 2:15–16that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
- 1 Sam 3:3–4and God’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in Yahweh’s temple, where God’s ark was;
- Matt 5:16Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
- John 1:9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
- Matt 4:16the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”
- Luke 12:35“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.
- Prov 6:23For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
- Isa 11:2Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
- Ps 119:130The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.
- 2 Chr 13:11and they burn to Yahweh every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. They also set the show bread in order on the pure table; and the lamp stand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening; for we keep the instruction of Yahweh our God, but you have forsaken him.
- Luke 1:79to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
- Num 8:2–4“Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lamp stand.’”
- John 1:4In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
- John 5:35He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
- Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
- Ps 119:105Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.
- Matt 25:1–8“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
- Exod 40:24He put the lamp stand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward.
- Exod 39:37the pure lamp stand, its lamps, even the lamps to be set in order, all its vessels, the oil for the light,
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 24:2 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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