Bible Strands
Exodus 38:2
He made a horn at each of its four corners, so that the horns and altar were of one piece, and he overlaid the altar with bronze.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text records Bezalel completing the bronze overlay of the altar of burnt offering during the tabernacle's assembly, immediately after describing the acacia wood framework in Exodus 38:1.
The words — קַרְנֹתָיו (qarnotav) translates to "its horns," and וַיַּעַשׂ (wa-ya‘as) means "and he made." The phrasing highlights that the horns were fashioned integrally with the altar rather than appended later.
The thread — This construction fulfills the earlier command in Exodus 27:2 and establishes a design pattern for sacrificial altars. The material bronze appears elsewhere in Scripture, such as in the metaphorical comparison of strength to bronze in Job 6:12.
Why it lands — The text describes a single, unified bronze structure, requiring the reader to recognize the altar as a durable, functional object built for repeated sacrificial use.
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 he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.
Cross-references
- Exodus 27:2 Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.
- Job 6:12 Is my strength like that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?