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)
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.

complete verse (2 Chronicles 7:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 7:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “When the feast had ended, the Feast of Shelters was celebrated for seven more days. And on the following day, the people gathered to complete the ceremony.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly [lit.: a holy council], since for seven days they had dedicated the altar, and had celebrated the festival for another seven days.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “On the eighth day, they held a final gathering, for they celebrated the dedication of the altar and the entire temple within the (period) of seven days, and the Feast of the Building/[lit. Causing-to-Stand] of Shelters/Huts within also (a period) of seven days.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “On the eighth/next day they gathered again to worship Yahweh. They had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters for seven days.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 7:9

And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly: The eighth day refers to the day after the seven days of celebration for the Festival of Shelters. The Hebrew word rendered solemn assembly is related to a root that involves restraint. Perhaps for this reason many translations retain the idea of solemnity, but some drop it; for example, New International Version, God’s Word, and Dillard say “assembly,” and New Century Version has “meeting.” In this context it may be best to say “final celebration” (Anchor Bible) or “closing ceremony” (New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond footnote). The Hebrew word is used elsewhere in Lev 23.36; Num 29.35; Deut 16.8; 2 Kgs 10.20; Neh 8.18; Isa 1.13; Joel 1.14; 2.15; and Amos 5.21.

For they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days: Before the closing ceremony, the Israelites first celebrated the dedication of the Temple and the altar for seven days, and then the Festival of Shelters for seven days. The altar refers to the bronze altar for burning sacrifices (see verse 7). As in the previous verse, the feast refers to the Festival of Shelters.

Good News Translation and New Century Version restructure this verse, putting the events in more chronological order, with the final day of the celebration coming at the end of the verse instead of the beginning. Another model that does this is:

• They had already celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and then they spent seven more days for the Festival of Shelters. On the next day they had a closing ceremony.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .