Plans for the Altar of Burnt Offering

27 “Using acacia wood, construct a square altar 7 1⁄2 feet wide, 7 1⁄2 feet long, and 4 1⁄2 feet high.^[a]

Building the Altar of Burnt Offering

38 Next Bezalel^[a] used acacia wood to construct the square altar of burnt offering. It was 7 1⁄2 feet wide, 7 1⁄2 feet long, and 4 1⁄2 feet high.^{[b] 2} He made horns for each of its four corners so that the horns and altar were all one piece. He overlaid the altar with bronze. ³ Then he made all the altar utensils of bronze—the ash buckets, shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans. ⁴ Next he made a bronze grating and installed it halfway down the side of the altar, under the ledge. ⁵ He cast four rings and attached them to the corners of the bronze grating to hold the carrying poles. ⁶ He made the poles from acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. ⁷ He inserted the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar. The altar was hollow and was made from planks.

¹⁰ We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle^[a] have no right to eat.

The Altar

¹³ “These are the measurements of the altar^[a]: There is a gutter all around the altar 21 inches deep and 21 inches wide,^[b] with a curb 9 inches^[c] wide around its edge. And this is the height^[d] of the altar: ¹⁴ From the gutter the altar rises 3 1⁄2 feet^[e] to a lower ledge that surrounds the altar and is 21 inches^[f] wide. From the lower ledge the altar rises 7 feet^[g] to the upper ledge that is also 21 inches wide. ¹⁵ The top of the altar, the hearth, rises another 7 feet higher, with a horn rising up from each of the four corners. ¹⁶ The top of the altar is square, measuring 21 feet by 21 feet.^{[h] 17} The upper ledge also forms a square, measuring 24 1⁄2 feet by 24 1⁄2 feet,^[i] with a 21-inch gutter and a 10 1⁄2-inch curb^[j] all around the edge. There are steps going up the east side of the altar.”

Furnishings for the Temple

4 Solomon^[a] also made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.^[b]

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

²⁹ and he placed the altar of burnt offering near the Tabernacle entrance. On it he offered a burnt offering and a grain offering, just as the Lord had commanded him.

¹⁰ Anoint the altar of burnt offering and its utensils to consecrate them. Then the altar will become absolutely holy.

⁴ Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s instructions. Early the next morning Moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁴ “Build for me an altar made of earth, and offer your sacrifices to me—your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats, and your cattle. Build my altar wherever I cause my name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵ If you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use. ²⁶ And do not approach my altar by going up steps. If you do, someone might look up under your clothing and see your nakedness.