Bible Strands
Exodus 30:10
Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Moses immediately after prohibiting unauthorized offerings on the altar, establishing the permanent maintenance protocol for the bronze altar.
The words — כִּפֶּר (khi.Per) translates as he will make atonement, and קַרְנֹתָיו (kar.no.Tav) means its horns.
The thread — This annual blood application on the altar's horns appears in Leviticus 16:18, establishes the purification principle cited in Hebrews 9:22, and parallels the consecration command in Exodus 29:36.
Why it lands — The text commands a fixed, annual ritual to preserve the altar's set-apart status, requiring the reader to accept that holiness is maintained through specific, repeated obedience rather than human discretion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 16:18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar.
- Hebrews 9:22 According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
- Exodus 29:36 Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it.
- Leviticus 16:5 And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
- Leviticus 16:29 This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—
- Leviticus 23:27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, and present a food offering to the LORD.
- Hebrews 9:25 Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
- Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
- Hebrews 9:7 But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.