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.

complete verse (Exodus 30:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 30:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “the table for bread and all its things, the thing where lamps are put plus its things/accessories, the altar where sweet-smelling things/incense are burned/smoked,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “the table of keeping offered bread and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (sing.)] rub- this oil -upon the Meeting-Together-Place Tent, the Box of the Law, the table and all the things-for-use of-it, the place-to-put the light and all the things-for-use of-it, and the altar used-for-burning the incense, the altar used-for-burning the burnt offering and also all the things-for-use (of it), and the basin and its thing-that- (it is) -place-upon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “and the table of bret together with its things, and the lams stand together with its things, and the table of incense,” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “and Dwelling-Tent-of-God, and sacred box, and table with its things, and lampstand with its things, and altar of incense, and altar great with its things, and water jar with its foot, you shall apply it with it.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “the table and all the things that are used with it, the lampstand and all the things that are used to take care of it, the altar for burning incense,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 30:26 - 30:28

And you shall anoint with it, using the singular you, means “Use it to anoint” (Good News Translation), or even “You shall use this oil to smear.” The tent of meeting (ʾohel moʿed) really refers to the tabernacle. (See the comment at 27.21.) And the ark of the testimony is the same as the “ark of the covenant” (New Revised Standard Version) and the “Covenant Box.” (See the comment at 25.22.)

And the table and all its utensils refers to “the table and all its equipment” (Good News Translation) described in 25.23-30. The word for utensils is a general term referring to any useful object, but here it refers to the “articles” (New International Version) mentioned in 25.29. And the lampstand and its utensils refers to the menorah described in 25.31-40. Note that the word all is not used for the utensils of the lampstand. The same word for utensils describes the “equipment” (Good News Translation) mentioned in 25.37-38. And the altar of incense refers to the smaller altar described in verses 1-5.

And the altar of burnt offering is the larger altar that is described in 27.1-8. With all its utensils refers to the “equipment” (Good News Translation) mentioned in 27.3. And the laver and its base refers to “the washbasin with its base” (Good News Translation) mentioned in verse 17.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .