altar

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The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “altar” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Obolo: ntook or “raised structure for keeping utensils (esp. sacrifice)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Muna: medha kaefoampe’a or “offering table” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Luchazi: muytula or “the place where one sets the burden down”/”the place where the life is laid down” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Tzotzil: “where they place God’s gifts” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
  • Tsafiki: “table for giving to God” (source: Bruce Moore in Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: karla-kooranyi or “sacred fire” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “offering-burning table” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “place for sacrificing” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “burning-place” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tibetan: mchod khri (མཆོད་​ཁྲི།) or “offering throne” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
  • Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Cherokee: “fire nurturing place” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 26) (note that the Jewish priest is “fire feeder” in Cherokee)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:

  • Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
  • Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
  • Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
  • Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
  • Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
  • 1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
  • Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
  • Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
  • Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
  • Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)

See also altar (Acts 17:23).


In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.

sanctuary

The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “sanctuary” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with opatulika or “separated place.” This is understood in a religious setup as a place designated for worship. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (1 Kings 6:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 6:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “The House of God was partitioned in order to make a Secret room which is very much feared/respected together with a Sitting (common) room. All the sides of that Secret room were the same. Each side had thirty feet. The Sitting room had a length of sixty feet. Small pieces of timber from cedar tree were put on the walls of that house from bottom to top and cypress timber were used on the floors of the house. The timber on the walls of that house were beautified/decorated with some things which looked like gourds and flowers being engraved on (them). The timber closed/sealed everywhere as if no single stone had been used. That Secret room had been made/prepared so that the Box of the Covenant of God would be kept there. The whole wall of that Secret room was smeared with gold up to the top (ceiling). There was a altar for sweet-smelling sacrifices by the door of the Secret room of the House of God. That thing was made of cedar wood and was covered with gold. The wall of the Sitting room too was smeared with gold and the front part of that Secret room was crossed with chains made of gold. So, Solomon beautified/decorated every part of the House of God using gold.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “In this way he overlaid the whole inner part. He also overlaid with gold the altar in front of the Most Holy Place.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore all the inside of the temple were-covered/overlayed with gold including the altar that is inside the Most Holy Place.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They covered all the walls of the temple and the altar that was outside the Very Holy Place with very thin sheets of gold.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 6:22

He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished: This literal translation by Revised Standard Version may give the incorrect impression that the outside of the Temple was completely covered with gold. For this reason Good News Translation says “The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold.”

As noted in verse 21, some interpreters think that the whole house here refers specifically to the Most Holy Place and not to the entire Temple.

The whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary: The altar mentioned here is surely the same altar mentioned in verse 20. Revised Standard Version has translated the Hebrew text rather literally, but in what sense the altar may be said to “belong” to the inner sanctuary will not be clear to most readers. Since this altar was located in front of the veil, the Good News Translation rendering “the altar in the Most Holy Place” is not correct. More accurate is the rendering “the whole of the altar by the inner shrine” (Revised English Bible) or “the whole altar before the sanctuary” (New American Bible, Maredsous, Nouvelle Bible Segond).

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

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Kings 6:22

6:22a So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished.

In this way he covered all the inside of the house with gold.
-or-
In fact, Solomon ⌊had his workmen⌋ put/spread a layer of gold over the entire inside of the temple.

6:22b He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

He also covered with gold the altar by/before the holy/sacred place.
-or-
Solomon also ⌊had his workmen⌋ put/spread gold over the altar that was in front of the inner room/sanctuary.

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