The great altar refers to the new altar just constructed by Uriah on orders from King Ahaz. This distinguishes it from the bronze altar that was considered to be inadequate.

Burn … throw …: These imperative verbs are singular in Hebrew. They refer to Uriah, who was expected to fulfill the commands.

The morning burnt offering, and the evening cereal offering … and their drink offering: The various types of offerings here are similar to the ones listed in verse 13. See the comments there and at 2 Kgs 3.20. Since the king is speaking here, in some languages it will be necessary to render the king’s burnt offering, and his cereal offering as “my burnt offering and my cereal offering.” In place of the people of the land, Good News Translation has simply “the people.” While this leaves implicit what is explicit in the text, the fuller expression may be kept if it is natural in the receptor language.

All the blood of the sacrifice may be expressed as “all the blood of the other sacrifices” since the text previously speaks of all the blood of the burnt offering.

The bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by: These words indicate the purpose for which the older and smaller altar would be employed. It was to become the private altar of King Ahaz. But scholars are not in agreement as to what he would do with it since the meaning of the Hebrew verb (baqar) rendered to inquire by is not clear. Attempts to explain the meaning here include the following:

• (1) The verb baqar is related to the Hebrew word for “morning” (boqer) and means “to offer morning sacrifice” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible).

• (2) The verb baqar means “to ponder over”; that is, the king will decide what to do with the old altar (so La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet). This seems to be the basis for the rendering “As regards the bronze altar, I shall see to that” (New Jerusalem Bible).

• (3) The verb baqar is related to words in related languages which mean “to split” and “to examine.” The sense is that the king will examine the intestines of an animal in order to divine God’s will. This understanding lies behind renderings such as to inquire by (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version), “for consultation” (New American Bible), “to use for divination” (Good News Translation), and “for seeking guidance” (New International Version). Most translations follow this interpretation.

• (4) The verb baqar means “to frequent,” as it does in Psa 27.4 (although the meaning of the verb there is also debated). This is the basis for the American Bible rendering “The bronze altar will be for me to frequent.” Another possible translation based on this meaning is “The bronze altar will be for my private use.”

• (5) Hobbs (pages 208-209) gives the translation “The bronze altar shall be for me to pray at,” and then states that the “translation is little more than a guess.”

It must be admitted that the precise meaning here is not clear, but a rendering based on either 4 or 5 is probably best.

It may be desirable in certain languages to transform the rather long direct quotation of this verse into indirect discourse. A possible model for this would be as follows:

• Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest to burn the following offerings on that big [new] altar: the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the burnt offering and the grain offering of the king himself, the burnt offering, the cereal offering and the drink offering of all the people of the land. He also said that Uriah should throw all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice on it. But he reserved the [old] bronze altar for his own private consultations.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .