⁵ And you shall build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool.^(A)

²⁵ But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones, for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it.^(A)

⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.^(A)

³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”;^{(A) 32} with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.^(B)

Joshua Renews the Covenant

^30 [a]Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel,^{(A) 31} just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, “an altar of unhewn^[b] stones, on which no iron tool has been used,” and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed offerings of well-being.^(B)