According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
- BSB he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
- NKJV according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
- NASB according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
- NLT As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.
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
By lot, Zacharias was chosen to enter the temple and burn incense. This was a rare and sacred privilege.
Overview
Casting lots was used to assign temple duties, and burning incense in the holy place may have been a once-in-a-lifetime honor for a priest. The rising incense symbolized the prayers of God's people. Into this sacred act, God breaks in with the announcement of the coming forerunner.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Chr 29:11My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.
- 1 Chr 23:13The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever.
- Exod 30:7–8And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
- Num 16:40To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.
- 1 Sam 2:28And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
- Heb 9:6Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
- 2 Chr 26:16But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
- 1 Chr 6:49But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
- Exod 37:25–29And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same.
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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.
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Original language
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