Leviticus 6:13
in Leviticus 6The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out.
KJV
The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.
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This verse in Leviticus 6
Commentary
5 notes on this verseWe may suppose that no day passed without some extraordinary sacrifices, which were always offered between the morning and evening lamb; so that from morning to night the fire on the altar was kept up of course.
This site's exposition
This is the law of the burnt offering
on Leviticus 6:9-13
The five offerings are given here a second time from the side of the priest who handles them, each section opening as this is the law of, and the first duty laid on Aaron and his sons is carrying out ashes. He takes them up in his linen, then puts off those garments and puts on others to carry the ashes outside the camp to ground the text calls clean, so what is left of a burnt offering is handled as holy rather than thrown away. Around that housekeeping stands the one command this passage gives three times, at verse 9, at verse 12 and again at verse 13: the fire of the altar is kept burning and never goes out. Leviticus 9:24 has fire coming out from before the LORD to consume the first offering laid on that altar, and the wood the priest lays on every morning feeds a fire he did not light.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The fire shall ever be burning - See on Lev 6:9 (note) and Lev 6:20 (note). In imitation of this perpetual fire, the ancient Persian Magi, and their descendants the Parses, kept up a perpetual fire; the latter continue it to the present day. This is strictly enjoined in the Zend Avesta, which is a code of laws as sacred among them as the Pentateuch is among the Jews. A Sagnika Brahmin preserves the fire that was kindled at his investiture with the poita, and never suffers it to go out, using the same fire at his wedding and in all his burnt-offerings, till at length his body is burnt with it - Ward’s Customs.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The fire shall ever be burning - This was a symbol of the never-ceasing worship which Yahweh required of His people. It was essentially connected with their acts of sacrifice.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
מרבכת means, scalded with hot oil to saturation (cf. Sifra, Tzav, Chapter 4 6).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֗שׁ | ʾesh | a fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| תָּמִ֛יד | tamid | continually | H8548 → | 104 times |
| תּוּקַ֥ד | tukad | it will burn | H3344 → | 9 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ | hamizbeach | the altar | H4196 → | 401 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִכְבֶֽה׃ ס | tikhveh | it will be extinguished | H3518 → |
אֵ֗שׁa fire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
תָּמִ֛ידcontinually
tamidH8548 →104 times
תּוּקַ֥דit will burn
tukadH3344 →9 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַthe altar
hamizbeachH4196 →401 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִכְבֶֽה׃ סit will be extinguished
tikhvehH3518 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.