28 Bible Verses about Altars

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

So they took the bull that he allowed to them, prepared it, and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, answer us!" But there was no voice and there was no answer, so they limped about the altar which they had made.

Therefore by this he will make atonement [for] the guilt of Jacob, and this [will be] all of [the] fruit [of] the removal of his sin: {when he makes} all [the] stones of [the] altar like crushed stones of chalk, no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand.

the people {who provoke} me to anger continually to my face, slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden, and making smoke offerings on bricks,

When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sins, they became to him altars to sin [on].

The priest shall put {some of} the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before Yahweh, which [is] in [the] tent of assembly, and all [the rest] of the bull's blood he must pour out on the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which [is at the] entrance of [the] tent of assembly.

Solomon also made all of the vessels which [were] in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which [was] the bread of the presence;

the gold altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the screen of the entrance of the tent;

"And you will make an altar [for] burning incense; you will make it of acacia wood,

All of the temple he overlaid with gold until all of the temple [was] finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

And these [are] the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter {is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width} and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this [is] [also] the height of the altar.

An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you, and I will bless you.

And you shall build an altar there for Yahweh your God, an altar of stone, but {you shall not use an iron tool to shape the stones}.

as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings.

And there he erected an altar and called it "El Elohe Israel."

And God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother."

Then let us make ready and let us go up to Bethel, so that I can make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my trouble, and who has been with me on the way that I have gone."

And he built an altar there and called the place El-Bethel, for there God had appeared to him when he fled before his brother.

The altars which [were] on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron.

And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean like the place of Topheth, all the houses where they made smoke offerings upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and [where] they poured out libations to other gods." '"

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and [where] they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

And the men of the city said to Jehoash, "Bring out your son so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah that [was] beside it."

And he built an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. Ahab also made the sacred pole, and {he continued to provoke} Yahweh the God of Israel more than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them.

Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me this: seven altars. And prepare for me this: seven bulls and seven rams."

So he took him to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah, and he built seven altars, and he offered a bull and a ram on [each] altar

And Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me these seven altars, and prepare for me these seven bulls and seven rams."

So Abram pitched his tent, and he came and settled at the oaks of Mamre, which [were] at Hebron. And there he built an altar to Yahweh.

And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.

And they came to the place that God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar atop the wood.

And he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits [was] its length, and twenty cubits [was] its width, and ten cubits [was] its height.

So Solomon made all the objects that [were in] the house of God: the altar of gold; the tables upon which [was] the bread of the presence;

And Gideon went and prepared {a young goat} and unleavened cakes [from] an ephah of flour; he put meat in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and he brought [them] to him under the oak and presented [them]. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes and put [them] on this rock; pour the broth [over it]." And he did so. Then the angel of Yahweh reached out the tip of the staff that [was] in his hand, and he touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of Yahweh went {from his sight}.

And Manoah took the {young goat} and the grain offering, and he offered [it] to Yahweh on the rock, to the one who performs miracles. And Manoah and his wife [were] watching. And when the flame went up toward the heaven from the altar, the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar to heaven while Manoah and his wife [were] watching. And they fell on their faces to the ground.

Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people."

David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to [his] prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.

Rather, you will tear down their altars, and you will break their stone pillars, and you will cut off their Asherah poles.

But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire.

But if a man schemes against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you will take him from my altar to die.

Then Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you." Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king's mother, and she sat on his right. She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}." read more.
Then she said, "Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife." King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and [ask] for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah." Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life. So then, {as Yahweh lives}, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today." King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died. To Abiathar the priest, the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your field, for {you deserve to die}, but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured." So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. When the message came to Joab (now Joab {had supported} Adonijah but {had not supported} Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar. It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent [word] to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go and fall upon him." So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, "Thus says the king: 'Come out.'" And he said, "No, for I want to die here." So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, "Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me." Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father. Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; [namely] Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, [there] will be peace forever from Yahweh." So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.

And Moses built an altar, and he called its name Yahweh [Is] My Banner.

And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and he rose early in the morning, and he built an altar at the base of the mountain and [set up] twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

You shall not plant for yourselves {an Asherah pole} beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.

So King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria [in] Damascus, and he saw the altar which [was] in Damascus, so King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the builder's plan of the altar and the {exact model of how it had been made}. So Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; thus Uriah the priest did before King Ahaz came from Damascus. When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar, so he went near to the altar and went up on it.

You shall write on the stone all of the words of this law very clearly."

An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you, and I will bless you. And if you make an altar of stones for me, you will not build them [as] hewn stone, because if you use your chisel on it, you have defiled it.

Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he got up and went and grasped the horns of the altar. Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me {first} that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!'"

Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings.

and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold in the proper arrangement, and take a second bull and offer [it as] a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you will cut down. Gideon took ten men from his servants, and he did just as Yahweh told him; and because he was too afraid of his {father's family} and the men of the city to do [it during] the day, he did [it during] night.

He offered [sacrifices] on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the {Israelites}, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

"And you will make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar will be square, and its height [will be] three cubits. And you will make its horns on its four corners; its horns will be {of one piece with it}, and you will overlay it [with] bronze. And you will make its pots for removing its fat-soaked ashes and its shovels and its sprinkling bowls and its forks and its fire pans; you will make all its equipment [with] bronze. read more.
And you will make for it a grating, a work of bronze network, and you will make on the network four bronze rings on its four ends. And you will put it under the ledge of the altar, below, and the network will be up to the middle of the altar. And you will make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you will overlay them [with] bronze. And the poles will be put into the rings, and the poles will be on the two sides of the altar when carrying it. You will make it hollow with boards. As it was shown you on the mountain, so they will do.

"And you will make an altar [for] burning incense; you will make it of acacia wood, a cubit its length and a cubit its width--it will be square--and two cubits its height, its horns {of one piece with it}. And you will overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and you will make for it a gold molding all around. read more.
And you will make two gold rings for it; under its molding {on two opposite sides} you will make [them] as {holders} for poles to carry it with them. You will make the poles of acacia wood, and you will overlay them [with] gold. And you will put it before the curtain that [is] upon the ark of the testimony, before the atonement cover, which [is] on the testimony, there where I will meet with you.

Then {he returned} to Ramah, because his house was there, and there he judged Israel, and he built an altar to Yahweh there.

And he built an altar there and called on the name of Yahweh. And he pitched his tent there, and the servants of Isaac dug a well there.

And they came to the region of the Jordan that [is] in the land of Canaan, and the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar on the Jordan, {a large and imposing altar}.

And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took from all the clean animals and from all the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

You will not go up with steps onto my altar, that your nakedness not be exposed on it.'

An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you, and I will bless you.

On the next day the people rose early, and they built there an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

the people {who provoke} me to anger continually to my face, slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden, and making smoke offerings on bricks,

And Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set up the altar on its foundations, because {they were in terror} because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it for Yahweh, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening.

For [as I] was passing through and observing carefully your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, 'To an unknown God.' Therefore what you worship without knowing [it], this I proclaim to you--

the bronze altar, and the bronze grating that [is] for it, its poles, and all its equipment, the basin and its stand,

And you will make its horns on its four corners; its horns will be {of one piece with it}, and you will overlay it [with] bronze.

the people {who provoke} me to anger continually to my face, slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden, and making smoke offerings on bricks,

And they came to the region of the Jordan that [is] in the land of Canaan, and the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar on the Jordan, {a large and imposing altar}. And the {Israelites} heard [it] said that the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar next to the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side [belonging to] the {Israelites}. When the {Israelites} heard [of it], the whole congregation of the {Israelites} gathered [at] Shiloh to go up against them for battle. read more.
And the {Israelites} sent to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, Phinehas the priest son of Eleazar, and ten leaders with him, {one leader for each} {family} from each of the tribes of Israel; and each one [was] the head of {his family} among the clans of Israel. They came to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, "Thus says all the congregation of Yahweh: 'What [is] this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel by turning away today from following Yahweh, by building for yourselves an altar to rebel today against Yahweh? [Is] not the sin of Peor {enough for us}, from which we have not cleansed ourselves today, and for which a plague came to the congregation of Yahweh, that you must turn today from following Yahweh? [If] you rebel today against Yahweh, tomorrow he will be angry with all of the congregation of Israel; if, however, the land of your property [is] unclean, cross [over] to the land of Yahweh's property, where Yahweh's tabernacle resides, and take possession among us. But you must not rebel against Yahweh or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of Yahweh our God. Did not Achan son of Zerah commit treachery with devoted things, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? {And he alone} did not perish because of his iniquity.'" And the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke with the heads of the clans of Israel, "Yahweh, God of gods! Yahweh, God of gods knows. And let Israel itself know, if [it was] in rebellion or treachery against Yahweh, do not spare us this day for building for ourselves an altar to turn away from Yahweh, or if [it was] to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings on it, may Yahweh himself take vengeance. But in fact, we have done this because of anxiety, because of a reason, saying, 'In the future your children may say to our children, '{What is the relationship between you and Yahweh the God of Israel}? Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad; you have no portion in Yahweh.' So your children may put an end to our children worshiping Yahweh. So we said, 'Let us build immediately for ourselves an altar, not for burnt offerings or for sacrifices; instead, it [is] a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us for performing the serving of Yahweh in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings; so that your children may not say in the future to our children, "You have no portion in Yahweh." ' And we thought, if they say to us and to our children in the future, we can say, 'Look at this replica of the altar of Yahweh, which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices; rather, it [is] a witness between us and you.' Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh, to turn today from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, instead of the altar of Yahweh our God that [is] before his tabernacle."

And Manoah took the {young goat} and the grain offering, and he offered [it] to Yahweh on the rock, to the one who performs miracles. And Manoah and his wife [were] watching.

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes and put [them] on this rock; pour the broth [over it]." And he did so. Then the angel of Yahweh reached out the tip of the staff that [was] in his hand, and he touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of Yahweh went {from his sight}.