Bible Strands
Numbers 4:14
and place on it all the vessels used to serve there: the firepans, meat forks, shovels, and sprinkling bowls—all the equipment of the altar. They are to spread over it a covering of fine leather and insert the poles.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text addresses Moses conveys instructions to the priests and Levites during the camp's preparation for relocation. The moment occurs after the ashes are removed from the bronze altar and before the Kohathites arrive to carry the structure.
The words — וְ/נָתְנ֣וּ (ve./na.te.Nu) means "and they will put," and כֵּלָ֞י/ו (ke.La/v) translates as "its articles" or "its vessels." These terms specify that every utensil must be placed directly onto the altar before any covering is applied.
The thread — This covering procedure follows the altar's initial construction in Exodus 38:1 and parallels the temple furnishings recorded in 2 Chronicles 4:19. The consistent focus on altar equipment ties the wilderness tabernacle to the later permanent sanctuary.
Why it lands — The passage requires strict adherence to the prescribed order of covering sacred objects before transport. It demands that readers recognize the boundary between authorized ritual service and unauthorized contact with holy items.
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 they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it.
Cross-references
- Exodus 38:1 Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
- 2 Chronicles 4:19 Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of God: the golden altar; the tables on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;