And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar:
Parallel translations
- WEB Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,
- BSB So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,
- NKJV So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar,
- NASB So the priest Eleazar took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered, and they hammered them out as plating for the altar,
- NLT So Eleazar the priest collected the 250 bronze incense burners that had been used by the men who died in the fire, and the bronze was hammered into a thin sheet to overlay the 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
Eleazar took the bronze censers of those who were burned and beat them into a covering for the altar. The command was carried out exactly.
Overview
Eleazar obediently fashions the censers into plating for the altar as God directed. The faithful execution of the command preserves the memorial God intended. The altar covering would stand as an enduring visual lesson about the holiness required to approach the LORD.
Cross-references & the web
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 16:39 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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