1“And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2“You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3“You shall make its pails for removing its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4“You shall make for it a grating of network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5“You shall put it beneath, under the ledge of the altar, so that the net will reach halfway up the altar. 6“You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7“Its poles shall be inserted into the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8“You shall make it hollow with planks; as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it.

Court of the Tabernacle

      9“You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen one hundred cubits long for one side; 10and its pillars shall be twenty, with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 11“Likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its twenty pillars with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 12“For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits with their ten pillars and their ten sockets. 13“The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. 14“The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. 15“And for the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. 16“For the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver, with their four pillars and their four sockets. 17“All the pillars around the court shall be furnished with silver bands with their hooks of silver and their sockets of bronze. 18“The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits of fine twisted linen, and their sockets of bronze. 19“All the utensils of the tabernacle used in all its service, and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

      20“You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 21“In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The LORD continued, "Make an altar out of acacia wood. It should be 71/2 feet square, and 41/2 feet high.

King James Bible
And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt make also an altar of setim wood, which shall be five cubits long and as many broad, that is, foursquare, and three cubits high.

Darby Bible Translation
And thou shalt make the altar of acacia-wood, five cubits the length, and five cubits the breadth; the altar shall be square; and the height thereof three cubits.

English Revised Version
And thou shalt make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and its hight shall be three cubits.

World English Bible
"You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and its height shall be three cubits.

Young's Literal Translation
'And thou hast made the altar of shittim wood, five cubits the length, and five cubits the breadth -- the altar is square -- and three cubits its height.

Cross References

Exodus 20:24 'You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

Exodus 35:16 the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;

Exodus 38:1 Then he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high.

Numbers 3:31 Now their duties involved the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service concerning them;

Numbers 4:13 "Then they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it.

2 Kings 16:14 The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of the LORD, and he put it on the north side of his altar.

1 Chronicles 6:49 But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

2 Chronicles 4:1 Then he made a bronze altar, twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in width and ten cubits in height.

Ezra 3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

Ezekiel 43:13 "And these are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): the base shall be a cubit and the width a cubit, and its border on its edge round about one span; and this shall be the height of the base of the altar.

Ezekiel 43:16 "Now the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, square in its four sides.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 27

In this chapter directions are given, I. Concerning the brazen altar for burnt-offerings (v. 1-8). II. Concerning the court of the tabernacle, with the hangings of it (v. 9-19). III. Concerning oil for the lamp (v. 20, 21).

Verses 1-8

As God intended in the tabernacle to manifest his presence among his people, so there they were to pay their devotions to him, not in the tabernacle itself (into that only the priests entered as God's domestic servants), but in the court before the tabernacle, where, as common subjects, they attended. There an altar was ordered to be set up, to which they must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God: and this altar was to sanctify their gifts. Here they were to present their services to God, as from the mercy-seat he gave his oracles to them; and thus a communion was settled between God and Israel. Moses is here directed about, 1. The dimensions of it; it was square, v. 1. 2. The horns of it (v. 2), which were for ornament and for use; the sacrifices were bound with cords to the horns of the altar, and to them malefactors fled for refuge. 3. The materials; it was of wood overlaid with brass, v. 1, 2. 4. The appurtenances of it (v. 3), which were all of brass. 5. The grate, which was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of it, in which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt; it was made of network like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the fire might burn the better, and that the ashes might fall through into the hollow of the altar, v. 4, 5. 6. The staves with which it must be carried, v. 6, 7. And, lastly, he is referred to the pattern shown him, v. 8.

Now this brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins: the wood would have been consumed by the fire from heaven if it had not been secured by the brass; nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God if it had not been supported by a divine power. Christ sanctified himself for his church, as their altar (Jn. 17:19), and by his mediation sanctifies the daily services of his people, who have also a right to eat of this altar (Heb. 13:10), for they serve at it as spiritual priests. To the horns of this altar poor sinners fly for refuge when justice pursues them, and they are safe in virtue of the sacrifice there offered.

Calvin's Commentary

1. And thou shalt make an altar ofshittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

1. Facies etiam altare e lignis sittim: quinque cubitorum exit longitudo: et quinque cubitorum latitudo: quadrature erit altare: et trium cubitorum altitudo ejus.

2. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

2. Huic facies cornua in quatuor angulis ejus: ex ipso erunt cornua ejus, tegesque illud aere.

3. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.

3. Facies deinde lebetes ejus: ad repurgandum cinerem ejus, et scopas (vel, forcipes) ejus, et crateras ejus, et fuscinulas ejus, et receptacula ejus: omnia vasa ejus facies ex aere.

4. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.

4. Facies etiam illi craticulam opere craticulato aeream, et ad rete quatuor annulos, in quatuor extremitatibus ejus.

5. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.

5. Ponesque illud sub ambitu altaris inferne, et erit rete illud usque ad medium altaris.

6. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

6. Facies praeterea vectes alta vectes e lignis sittim, et cooperies eos aere.

7. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.

7. Et inserentur vectes ejus in illos annulos: et erunt vectes in utroque latere altaris, dum portabitur illud.

8. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

8. Cavum tabulis facies illud: quemadmodum ostendi tibi in monte, sic facient.

1. And thou shalt make an altar. The altar of whole burnt-offerings (holocaustorum) is here described, which, however, it was called by synecdoche, for not only entire victims were burnt there, but also parts of them only, as we shall see in Leviticus. The burnt-offerings received their name from their ascending, [147] whereby the Israelites were reminded that they had need to be purified, that they might ascend to God; and at the same time were instructed that whatever corruption there might be in the flesh did not prevent the sacrifices from being acceptable and of a sweet savor to God. It is clear that from the first beginning of the human race there were burnt-sacrifices, suggested by the secret inspiration of God's Spirit, since there was no written Law; nor can we doubt but that by this symbol they were taught that the flesh must be burnt by the Spirit, in order that men may duly offer themselves to God; and thus they acknowledged, under this type, that the flesh of Christ must receive this from the divine power, so as to become a perfect victim for the propitiation of God; thus, as the Apostle testifies, he offered himself through the Spirit. (Hebrews 9:14.) But fuller mention of this subject will be made elsewhere. The altar was so constructed that the sacrifices might be cast upon a grate placed within it, and thus they were covered by its external surface. The ashes were received into a pan, so that they should not fall about upon the ground and be trodden under foot, but that reverence might be inculcated even towards the very remnants of their holy things. [148] That the victims were bound to the four horns, which stood out from the four corners, is plain from the words of Psalm 118:27, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." And this also is the beginning of a proper offering of spiritual sacrifices, that all the lusts of the flesh should be subdued, and held captive as it were unto the obedience of God. Wherefore even Christ, although in Him there was nothing which was not duly regulated, was nevertheless bound, in order to prove His obedience; as He had said, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39.) The altar was carried on staves, to obviate the necessity of having more than one; else there would have been danger of their being compelled, by the very difficulty of carrying it, to leave it behind after it was made, if they were setting about a long journey; and this would have been the seed or ground of superstition, whilst no other could be built which was not spurious.

Footnotes:

[147] C. alludes to their Hebrew name, lh, the primary signification of which is mounting upwards. -- W

[148] "Mais que la sainctete des sacremens," etc. -- Fr. be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

Links

Exodus 27 Commentaries: Barnes • Calvin • Clarke • Darby • Gill • Geneva • Guzik • JFB • Keil / Delitzsch • KJV Translators' • Henry's Concise • Matthew Henry • Scofield • TSK • Wesley

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Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament