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מִזְבֵּחַ

mizbeach · altar

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H4196 · appears 401 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

mizbeach (מִזְבֵּחַ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “altar”.

A structure of stone or earth on which sacrifices are offered to God.

How to say it

miz·be·ach

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. A raised structure of earth, stone or bronze on which offerings to God were burned.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Altar: the place where sacrifices are offered. It comes from the root זָבַח, “sacrifice”.

Historical and cultural background

Exodus 20:24-25 commands that the altar be made of earth, or of undressed stones, and Exodus 27 and 30 describe two altars in the sanctuary: the one for burnt offerings, of acacia wood overlaid with bronze, and the one for incense.

How we translate it

“Altar” 349 times, “altars” 52. There is no variation: always “altar”, as this edition's glossary sets.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • altar ×349
  • altars ×52

Related words

Comes from

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Genesis 8:20

    And Noah built an altar to YHWH, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

  • Genesis 12:7

    Then YHWH appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to YHWH, who had appeared to him.

  • Genesis 12:8

    From there he moved on to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to YHWH and called on the name of YHWH.

  • Genesis 13:4

    to the place of the altar that he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of YHWH.

  • Genesis 13:18

    So Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and he built there an altar to YHWH.

  • Genesis 22:9

    They came to the place that Elohim had told him, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

  • Genesis 26:25

    He built there an altar and called on the name of YHWH, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

  • Genesis 33:20

    He set up there an altar and called it “El, the Elohim of Israel.”

  • Genesis 35:1

    Elohim said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and stay there, and make there an altar to El who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother.”

  • Genesis 35:3

    Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to El who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me on the way that I have gone.”

  • Genesis 35:7

    He built there an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there Elohim had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.

  • Exodus 17:15

    Moses built an altar and called its name YHWH Nissi,

  • Exodus 20:24

    An altar of earth you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your flocks and your herds; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

  • Exodus 20:25

    And if you make me an altar of stones, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you lift your tool on it, you profane it.

  • Exodus 20:26

    And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’ ”

  • Exodus 21:14

    But if a man acts presumptuously against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from my altar to die.

  • Exodus 24:4

    Moses wrote all the words of YHWH. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve standing stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

  • Exodus 24:6

    Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar.

  • Exodus 27:1

    You shall make the altar of acacia wood: five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and three cubits its height.

  • Exodus 27:5

    You shall put it under the ledge of the altar, below, so that the network reaches halfway up the altar.

  • Exodus 27:6

    You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.

  • Exodus 27:7

    Its poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried.

  • Exodus 28:43

    They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they do not bear iniquity and die. It is a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him.

  • Exodus 29:12

    and you shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and all the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar.

  • Exodus 29:13

    You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe on the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar.

  • Exodus 29:16

    You shall slaughter the ram and take its blood and splash it on the altar all around.

  • Exodus 29:18

    You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to YHWH, a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to YHWH it is.

  • Exodus 29:20

    You shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of Aaron and on the lobe of the ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and splash the blood on the altar all around.

  • Exodus 29:21

    You shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the oil of anointing and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, and on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be holy, and his garments, and his sons and the garments of his sons with him.

  • Exodus 29:25

    Then you shall take them from their hands and offer them up in smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before YHWH; it is a fire offering to YHWH.

  • Exodus 29:36

    A bull for a sin offering you shall offer each day for expiation; and you shall purify the altar when you make expiation for it, and anoint it to consecrate it.

  • Exodus 29:37

    Seven days you shall make expiation for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy.

  • Exodus 29:38

    This is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old each day continually.

  • Exodus 29:44

    I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; and Aaron and his sons I will consecrate to serve as priests for me.

  • Exodus 30:1

    You shall make an altar for burning incense; of acacia wood you shall make it.

  • Exodus 30:18

    “You shall make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing, and put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

  • Exodus 30:20

    When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to offer up in smoke a fire offering to YHWH,

  • Exodus 30:27

    the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense,

  • Exodus 30:28

    the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand.

  • Exodus 31:8

    and the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand and all its utensils, and the altar of incense,

And 361 more times.