An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Parallel translations
- KJV And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
- BSB Just then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
- NKJV Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
- NASB Now an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.
- NLT While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar.
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
An angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Zacharias by the altar of incense. God breaks his long silence with a heavenly messenger.
Overview
After centuries with no recorded prophetic word, an angel appears, signaling that God is acting decisively in redemptive history. The angel stands at the place of prayer and atonement imagery. This dramatic appearance announces that the time of fulfillment has arrived.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Exod 40:26–27He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil;
- Acts 10:3–4At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
- Judg 13:3Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.
- Rev 9:13The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,
- Judg 13:9God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah, her husband, wasn’t with her.
- Heb 1:14Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
- Exod 30:1–10“You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
- Luke 1:28Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”
- Luke 1:19The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.
- Lev 16:13and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die.
- Luke 2:10The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.
- Exod 37:25–29He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. It was square: its length was a cubit, and its width a cubit. Its height was two cubits. Its horns were of one piece with it.
- Acts 5:19But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and brought them out, and said,
- Rev 8:3–4Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 1:11 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.