Bible Strands
Leviticus 6:12
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses relays Yahweh’s directive to Aaron and his sons regarding daily altar maintenance, positioned immediately after the ash-removal procedure and before the command for perpetual burning.
The words — The verbs תּוּקַד (tu.kad, “it will burn”) and תִכְבֶּה (tikhbeh, “it will be extinguished”) establish an unbroken state of combustion that must not be interrupted.
The thread — The command recurs in Leviticus 6:13 as a perpetual requirement, appears alongside the initial wood placement in Leviticus 1:7, and connects to the divine fire that first consumes the altar offerings in Leviticus 9:24.
Why it lands — The text requires the priest to add wood each morning and arrange the burnt offering and fat portions, demanding consistent, unbroken ritual maintenance without deviation.
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 the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 9:24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
- Exodus 29:38 This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.
- Leviticus 1:7 The sons of Aaron the priest shall put a fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.
- Leviticus 3:3 From the peace offering he is to bring a food offering to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
- Nehemiah 13:31 I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.
- Leviticus 3:9 And from the peace offering he shall bring a food offering to the LORD consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
- Leviticus 3:14 And from his offering he shall present a food offering to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
- Numbers 4:13 Then they shall remove the ashes from the bronze altar, spread a purple cloth over it,
- Mark 9:48 where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’
- Hebrews 10:27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.