according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell 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.
- KJV According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
- BSB he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
- 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, don’t be negligent now; for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, 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, forever, to burn incense before Yahweh, to minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever.
- Exod 30:7–8Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
- Num 16:40to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who isn’t of the offspring of Aaron, would come near to burn incense before Yahweh, that he not be as Korah, and as his company; as Yahweh spoke to him by Moses.
- 1 Sam 2:28Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?
- Heb 9:6Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,
- 2 Chr 26:16But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.
- 1 Chr 6:49But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
- 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.
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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.
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Original language
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