The Altar of Incense

30 “You shall make an altar on which to offer incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.^(A)

³ Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.^(A)

Making the Altar of Incense

²⁵ He made the altar of incense of acacia wood, one cubit long and one cubit wide; it was square and was two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it.^{(A) 26} He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and he made a molding of gold around it ²⁷ and two golden rings for it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, to hold the poles with which to carry it. ²⁸ And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

⁷ The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord, and the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.^(A)

⁵ You shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant and set up the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle.

Pride and Apostasy

¹⁶ But when he had become strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For he acted unfaithfully toward the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to make offering on the altar of incense.^(A)

²⁰ The interior of the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar.^[a]

¹⁸ He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

¹⁰ Once a year Aaron shall perform the rite of atonement on its horns. Throughout your generations he shall perform the atonement for it once a year with the blood of the atoning purification offering. It is most holy to the Lord.”^(A)

⁷ Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it,^{(A) 8} and when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening, he shall offer it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.