28 Bible Verses about Altars

And he raised up an altar to Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it and invoked in the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us. But there was no voice nor anyone that answered. And they jumped up and down near the altar which they had made.

Therefore, in this manner shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this shall be all the fruit, the removal of his sin; when he shall return all the stones of the altar, as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder that they may not raise up the groves, or the images of the sun.

a people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick;

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, the altars shall be a sin unto him.

And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of aromatic incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.

And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: an altar of gold, and a table upon which the showbread was, also of gold,

the golden altar and the anointing oil and the aromatic incense and the hanging for the tabernacle door.

In the same manner thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of cedar wood shalt thou make it.

And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also the whole altar that was in front of the oracle he overlaid with gold.

And these are the measures of the altar in cubits: The cubit is a cubit and a hand breadth; the middle rim, one cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about of a span. This shall be the high bottom of the altar.

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen; in whatever place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

as Moses, the slave, of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no one lifted up any iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.

And there he erected an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel (the Strong God of Israel).

And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou didst flee from the face of Esau, thy brother.

And let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me in the way which I have gone.

And there he built an altar and called the place Elbethel because there God had appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother.

And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet, defiled, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heaven and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

and the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.

Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son that he may die because he has cast down the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the grove that was by it.

And he raised up an altar to Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. Ahab also made groves, and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal and made a grove, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done; and he worshipped all the host of heaven and served those things.

And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.

And he brought him into the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt among the terebinth trees of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

And the LORD appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land, and there he built an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

And when they came to the place which God had told him of, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.

And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables upon which the showbread was set;

And Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

So Manoah took a kid with a present and sacrificed it upon a rock unto the LORD, and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar as Manoah and his wife looked on, and they prostrated themselves on the ground on their faces.

And Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his slave? And David answered, To buy this threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

And David built there an altar unto the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves;

But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images in the fire.

But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbour to slay him with prudence, thou shalt take him from my altar that he may die.

And Bathsheba said, Well, I will speak for thee unto the king. Bathsheba, therefore, went unto King Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself unto her and sat down on his throne and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand. Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, do not deny me. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny thee. read more.
And she said, Let Abishag, the Shunammite, be given to Adonijah, thy brother, to wife. And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag, the Shunammite, for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother and he also has Abiathar, the priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah. Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. Now, therefore, as the LORD lives, who has confirmed me, and set me on the throne of David, my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today. Then King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died. And unto Abiathar, the priest, the king said, Go to Anathoth, unto thine own inheritance, for thou art worthy of death; but I will not put thee to death today because thou didst bare the ark of the Lord GOD before David, my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. And the news came to Joab, for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he had not turned after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told King Solomon that Joab had fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD and that he was by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him. And Benaiah entered into the tabernacle of the LORD and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, No, but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. And the king said unto him, Do as he has said and fall upon him and bury him that thou may take away from me and from the house of my father the blood which Joab shed without a cause. And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and slew them with the sword without my father David knowing of it: Abner, the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. Their blood shall, therefore, return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever; but upon David and upon his seed and upon his house and upon his throne shall there be peace for ever from the LORD. So Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up and fell upon him and slew him, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

And Moses built an altar and called the name of it The LORD is my Banner,

And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD and rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mount and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

And King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser, King of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah, the priest, the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it. And Urijah, the priest, built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah, the priest, made it while King Ahaz returned from Damascus. And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar and offered upon it.

And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen; in whatever place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

And Adonijah, fearing the presence of Solomon, arose and went and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for he has caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his slave with the sword.

Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses, the slave, of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no one lifted up any iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.

and build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, according to due order, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice upon the wood of the grove which thou shall have cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his slaves and did as the LORD had said unto him. But he feared to do it by day because of his father's family and the men of the city, so he did it by night.

So he sacrificed upon the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month which he had devised of his own heart, and made a feast unto the sons of Israel; and he climbed up on the altar to burn incense.

Thou shalt also make an altar of cedar wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare, and its height shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon its four corners; its horns shall be of the same, and thou shalt cover it with brass. And thou shalt make its pans to receive the ashes with its burnt fat, and its shovels and its basins and its fleshhooks and its firepans; all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. read more.
And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the circumference of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. Thou shalt also make staves for the altar, staves of cedar wood, and cover them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar to bear it. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it; as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

In the same manner thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of cedar wood shalt thou make it. Its length shall be a cubit and its width a cubit; it shall be square and its height two cubits; its horns shall be of the same. And thou shalt cover it with pure gold, its top and its sides round about, and its horns; and thou shalt make unto it a moulding of gold round about. read more.
And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under its moulding by its two corners on both sides for places for the staves to bear it with. And thou shalt make the staves of cedar wood and cover them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the seat of reconciliation that is over the testimony, where I will testify unto thee of myself.

Then he would return to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the LORD.

And he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's slaves opened a well.

And when they came unto the borders of the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there next to the Jordan, a great altar to look upon.

And Noah built an altar unto the LORD and took of every clean animal and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto my altar that thy nakedness not be discovered thereon.

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen; in whatever place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

And it came to pass on the next day that the people rose early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

a people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick;

Then stood up Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they set the altar upon its bases, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of those lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.

For as I passed by and beheld your sanctuaries, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare unto you.

The brasen altar with its grate of brass, its staves, and all its vessels, and the laver and its base.

And thou shalt make the horns of it upon its four corners; its horns shall be of the same, and thou shalt cover it with brass.

a people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick;

And when they came unto the borders of the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there next to the Jordan, a great altar to look upon. And the sons of Israel heard it said, Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of the Jordan, at the passage of the sons of Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them. read more.
And the sons of Israel sent unto the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh into the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was the head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. And they came unto the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh unto the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD in that ye have built an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD? Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, for which there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD? And ye turn away this day from following the LORD; and it will be, seeing ye rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. If the land of your possession seems unto you to be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD's tabernacle dwells and take possession among us; but do not rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building yourselves an altar in addition to the altar of the LORD our God. Peradventure did Achan, the son of Zerah, not commit a trespass in the anathema, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity. Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knows and let Israel also know; if it is in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD (save us not this day) that we have built us an altar to turn from following the LORD or if to offer thereon burnt offering or present or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the LORD himself require it; likewise, if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, Peradventure tomorrow your children shall speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel? The LORD has put the Jordan for a border between us and you, O sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; ye have no part in the LORD, so shall your sons make our sons cease from fearing the LORD. Therefore we said, Let us now work to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us, to do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the LORD. Therefore we said, that it shall be, if they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may reply, Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but it is a witness between us and you. Let it never happen that we should rebel against the LORD or that we should turn today from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for presents, or for sacrifices, in addition to the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle.

So Manoah took a kid with a present and sacrificed it upon a rock unto the LORD, and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.

And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.