The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it.
Parallel translations
- WEB The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning: and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
- KJV And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.
- NKJV And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
- NASB The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it.
- NLT Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it.
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 fire must be tended each morning with fresh wood and the daily offerings. Devotion to God requires steady, daily diligence.
Overview
Each morning the priest renews the fire, lays on the burnt offering, and burns the fat of the peace offerings. The continual, daily attention models a worship that never lapses into neglect. It calls God's people to fresh, ongoing consecration, supremely modeled by Christ's perfect and unceasing devotion to the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Lev 9:24Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
- Exod 29:38–42This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.
- Lev 1:7–9The sons of Aaron the priest shall put a fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.
- Neh 13:31I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.
- Lev 3:3–5From the peace offering he is to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
- Num 4:13–14Then they shall remove the ashes from the bronze altar, spread a purple cloth over it,
- Lev 3:9–11And from the peace offering he shall bring an offering made by fire to the LORD consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
- Lev 3:14–16And from his offering he shall present an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
- Heb 10:27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.
- Mark 9:48–49where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’
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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 6:12 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.