Exodus 20:26

20:26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’ ¹ 

Exodus 27:6

27:6 You are to make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you are to overlay them with bronze.

Exodus 29:16

29:16 and you are to kill the ram and take its blood and splash it all around on the altar.

Exodus 29:38

29:38 “Now this is what you are to prepare ²  on the altar every day continually: two lambs a year old.

Exodus 30:1

The Altar of Incense

30:1 ³ “You are to make an altar for burning incense; ⁴  you are to make it of ⁵  acacia wood. ⁶ 

Exodus 38:4

38:4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom.

Exodus 39:39

39:39 the bronze altar and its bronze grating, its poles, and all its utensils; the large basin with its pedestal;

Exodus 40:7

40:7 You are to put the large basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “uncovered” (so ASV, NAB).

² tn The verb is “you will do,” “you will make.” It clearly refers to offering the animals on the altar, but may emphasize all the preparation that was involved in the process.

³ sn Why this section has been held until now is a mystery. One would have expected to find it with the instructions for the other furnishings. The widespread contemporary view that it was composed later does not answer the question, it merely moves the issue to the work of an editor rather than the author. N. M. Sarna notes concerning the items in chapter 30 that “all the materials for these final items were anticipated in the list of invited donations in 25:3-6” and that they were not needed for installing Aaron and his sons (Exodus [JPSTC], 193). Verses 1-10 can be divided into three sections: the instructions for building the incense altar (1-5), its placement (6), and its proper use (7-10).

⁴ tn The expression is מִזְבֵּחַ מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת (mizbeakh miqtar qÿtoret), either “an altar, namely an altar of incense,” or “an altar, [for] burning incense.” The second noun is “altar of incense,” although some suggest it is an active noun meaning “burning.” If the former, then it is in apposition to the word for “altar” (which is not in construct). The last noun is “incense” or “sweet smoke.” It either qualifies the “altar of incense” or serves as the object of the active noun. B. Jacob says that in order to designate that this altar be used only for incense, the Torah prepared the second word for this passage alone. It specifies the kind of altar this is (Exodus, 828).

⁵ tn This is an adverbial accusative explaining the material used in building the altar.

⁶ sn See M. Haran, “The Uses of Incense in Ancient Israel Ritual,” VT 10 (1960): 113-15; N. Glueck, “Incense Altars,” Translating and Understanding the Old Testament, 325-29.

⁷ tn Heb “there.”