Exodus 20:25 BSB — MannaFest

Exodus 20:25

Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

KJV

And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

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Commentary

2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Thou shalt not build it of hewn stone - Because they were now in a wandering state, and had as yet no fixed residence; and therefore no time should be wasted to rear costly altars, which could not be transported with them, and which they must soon leave.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This rule being prescribed before the establishment of the ceremonial law, which appointed altars much more costly, intimates that, after the period of that law, plainness should be accepted as the best ornament of the external services of religion, and that gospel-worship should not be performed with external pomp and gaiety.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וְאִם־	ve.'im-	and if	H518 →
מִזְבַּ֤ח	miz.Bach	an altar of	H4196 →
אֲבָנִים֙	'a.va.Nim	stones	H68 →
תַּֽעֲשֶׂה־	ta.'a.seh-	you will make	H6213 →
לִּ֔י	Li	for <the> me
לֹֽא־	lo'-	not	H3808 →
תִבְנֶ֥ה	tiv.Neh	you must build	H1129 →
אֶתְהֶ֖ן	'et.Hen	<obj.> them	H853 →
גָּזִ֑ית	ga.Zit	hewn [stone]	H1496 →
כִּ֧י	ki	for	H3588 →
חַרְבְּךָ֛	char.be.Kha	tool your	H2719 →
הֵנַ֥פְתָּ	he.Naf.ta	you have wielded	H5130 →
עָלֶ֖יהָ	'a.Lei.ha	on it	H5921 →
וַתְּחַֽלְלֶֽהָ׃	va.te.Cha.Le.ha	and you have profaned it	H2490 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk5

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Joshua 8:31
just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on…
leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:5–7
  Moreover, you are to build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them.
- Exodus 20:24–25
  You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name…
- Exodus 24:5
  Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.
- 1 Kings 18:31–32
  And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.”
- Joshua 1:8
  This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper…