altar

Click here to view graphically

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.

fat, oil

The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Numbers 7:84)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 7:84:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, all the things that those leaders gave for the anointing/inauguration of the altar are these: Twelve plates made from silver, twelve bowls made from silver and twelve small bowls made from gold which things that smell sweet filled. The total weight of silver reached twenty-eight kilos following the standard for weighing decided in the Tent of God. The total weight of gold reached one and a half kilo following the weight which was decided in the Tent of God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “These are the offerings that the leaders of the tribes of Israel offered on the day that the altar was anointed — twelve silver trays, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, and twelve flattened golden vessels.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “These were all the offerings of the twelve leaders/[lit. heads] of the Israelinhon for the dedication of the altar: twelve silver large-plates, twelve silver bowls, and twelve golden small-cups.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When the altar was dedicated to Yahweh, those twelve leaders brought these gifts:
    —twelve silver plates and twelve silver bowls, weighing a total of about 60 pounds/27.6 kg., each of them being weighed on the scales kept in the Sacred Tent;
    —twelve gold dishes filled with incense, weighing a total of about three pounds/1.4 kg., each being weighed on those same scales;
    —twelve bulls, twelve full-grown rams, and twelve one-year-old rams, to be sacrifices that were completely burned, along with the grain offerings;
    —twelve goats to be sacrificed to forgive the people for the sins they have committed;
    —and 24 bulls, 60 full-grown rams, 60 goats, and 60 rams that were one-year-old, to be sacrifices to maintain the people’s fellowship with Yahweh.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 7:84 - 7:88

This final list in verses 84-88 summarizes the totals of the offerings given by the chiefs during the twelve days. If the target language has a way of marking such a concluding or summary paragraph, it should be used here. If this passage is not clearly marked and Revised Standard Version is followed more or less literally, it may suggest to listeners that at the end of the twelve days this huge offering by all the chiefs of Israel was made all at once.

This was the dedication offering for the altar, on the day when it was anointed, from the leaders of Israel: This sentence introduces the list of totals for the offerings. The Hebrew does not use any verb form corresponding with the verb was near the beginning of this sentence, which is in line with the list character of the text. The expected norms of the target language for a list should be observed again. For the dedication offering for the altar, see verse 10; for on the day when it was anointed, see verse 1; and for the leaders of Israel, see verse 2.

Twelve silver plates … each silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels: See verse 13.

Twelve silver basins … each basin seventy means each silver basin weighed seventy shekels. See verse 13.

All the silver of the vessels two thousand four hundred shekels means the total weight of the silver plates and silver basins was two thousand four hundred shekels, which is equivalent to about 27 kilograms (60 pounds).

According to the shekel of the sanctuary: See verse 13.

The twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece: See verse 14.

All the gold of the dishes being a hundred and twenty shekels means the total weight of the gold dishes was a hundred and twenty shekels, which is equivalent to about 1,370 grams (48 ounces).

All the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old: See verse 15. Cattle renders the generic Hebrew word baqar, which can refer to cows, bulls, sheep, and goats.

With their cereal offering: The pronoun their refers to the animals for the burnt offering. For cereal offering, see the comments on 4.16. Since a cereal offering accompanied each of these animals, Good News Translation uses the plural expression “grain offerings,” which is acceptable.

And twelve male goats for a sin offering: See verse 16.

And all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty: See verse 17.

This was the dedication offering for the altar, after it was anointed: This repeats what is said in verse 10 (see the comments there). This repetition provides a concluding bracket (inclusio) around verses 10-88.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .