The Altar of Burnt Offering

27 “You(A) are to construct the altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, 7½ feet long, and 7½ feet wide;[a] it must be 4½ feet high.[b] Make horns for it on its four corners; the horns are to be of one piece.[c] Overlay it with bronze.(B) Make its pots for removing ashes, and its shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans; make all its utensils of bronze. Construct a grate for it of bronze mesh, and make four bronze rings on the mesh at its four corners. Set it below, under the altar’s ledge,[d] so that the mesh comes halfway up[e] the altar. Then make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried. Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. They are to make it just as it was shown to you on the mountain.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 27:1 Lit five cubits in length and five cubits in width
  2. 27:1 Lit wide; and its height three cubits
  3. 27:2 Lit piece with it
  4. 27:5 Perhaps a ledge around the altar on which the priests could stand; Lv 9:22
  5. 27:5 Or altar’s rim, so that the grid comes halfway down

Instructions for the altar

27 Make an acacia-wood altar. The altar should be square, seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide. It should be four and a half feet high. Make horns for the altar and attach them to it, one horn on each of its four corners. Cover it with copper. Make pails for removing its ashes and its shovels, bowls, meat forks, and trays. Make all its equipment out of copper. Make for the altar a grate made of copper mesh. Make four copper rings for each of the four corners of the mesh. Slide the mesh underneath the bottom edge of the altar and then extend the mesh halfway up to the middle of the altar. Make acacia-wood poles for the altar and cover them with copper. Put the poles through the rings so that the poles will be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. Make the altar with planks but hollow inside. All these should be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

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