There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God.
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Deuteronomy 27:5-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster. There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God. You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God. You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
Parallel Translations
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There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them.
You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God.
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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.
Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God:
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And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them.
Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of unhewn stones; and thou shalt offer burnt-offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God.
Cross-references (6)
- Exodus 20:25 (v5) If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.
- Exodus 24:4 (v5) Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for…
- Leviticus 1:1-17 (v6) Yahweh called to Moses, and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of…
- 1 Kings 18:31-32 (v5) Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom Yahweh’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be…
- Ephesians 5:2 (v6) Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
Show all 6 cross-references
- Joshua 8:30-31 (v5) Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded the children of Israel, as…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v5 The altar should not be curiously wrought, because it…
The altar should not be curiously wrought, because it should continue but for a time: for God would have but one altar in Judah.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v5 Deu 27:5 And there shalt thou build an altar…
Deu 27:5 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.
Ver. 5. Thou shalt build an altar.] For burnt offerings, &c. {Deu 27:6-7} God teacheth them thereby, that righteousness, impossible to the law, was to be sought in Christ, figured by that altar and those sacrifices. Thus the moral law drove the Jews to the ceremonial, which was their gospel, as it doth now drive us to Christ, who is indeed "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." {Rom 10:4}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v6 Whole stones; i.e. not hewed or polished.
Whole stones; i.e. not hewed or polished.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–6 And there shall thou build an altar to the…
And there shall thou build an altar to the Lord thy God,.... On the same mountain, though not of the same stones. Jarchi's note is,"after that (the setting up of the plastered stones) thou shalt bring from thence (from Jordan) others, and build of them an altar on Mount Ebal;''but Josephus (t) places this altar not on Mount Ebal, but between that and Gerizim. This altar, he says, was ordered to be built towards the rising sun, not far from the city of Shechem, between two mountains, Gerizim and Ebal; but the text is express, that it was to be built where the stones were set up, which was on Mount Ebal, and there it was built, Jos 8:30; an altar of stones; of whole stones, as in Deu 27:6, not broken, nor hewed, but rough as they were when taken out of the quarry:
thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them; to hew them, and make them smooth; See Gill on Exo 20:25;
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(t) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 44.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v6 Whole stones - Rough, not hewed or polished. By…
Whole stones - Rough, not hewed or polished. By the law written on the stones, God spake to them: by the altar and sacrifices upon it, they spake to God: and thus was communion kept up between them and God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v6 Deu 27:6. Whole stones — Rough, not hewn, nor…
Deu 27:6. Whole stones — Rough, not hewn, nor polished, whereby all manner of imagery was avoided. Shalt offer burnt-offerings thereon — In order to ratify their covenant with God, as they did at Horeb. By the law written on the stones God spake to them; by the altar and sacrifices upon it they spake to God, and thus was communion kept up between them and God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5–6 Stones: the same as those which composed the monument,…
Stones: the same as those which composed the monument, (Calmet) or rather different from them, (Menochius) as those were polished, ver. 2.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v5 there shalt thou build an altar . . .…
there shalt thou build an altar . . . of whole stones--The stones were to be in their natural state, as if a chisel would communicate pollution to them. The stony pile was to be so large as to contain all the conditions of the covenant, so elevated as to be visible to the whole congregation of Israel; and the religious ceremonial performed on the occasion was to consist: first, of the elementary worship needed for sinful men; and secondly, of the peace offerings, or lively, social feasts, that were suited to the happy people whose God was the Lord. There were thus, the law which condemned, and the typical expiation--the two great principles of revealed religion.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v5 5. And there shalt thou build an altar —…
5. And there shalt thou build an altar — The altar was to be built upon Ebal, the mountain from which the curses were to be proclaimed.
Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them — Comp. Exo_20:25.
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As at the conclusion of the covenant on Sinai (see Exo_24:11) burnt offerings and peace offerings were presented to Jehovah, so on the establishment of the people in the land they are solemnly to ratify anew their covenant with their God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–6 5. no iron] Exo_20:25, tool (ḥéreb), which would have…
5. no iron] Exo_20:25, tool (ḥéreb), which would have polluted the altar. The later D’s substitution of iron is striking. See on Deu_8:9.
5–7. Cp. E, Exo_20:24 f. with Driver’s notes.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–6 (5) An altar of stones.—Rashi propounds the theory that…
(5) An altar of stones.—Rashi propounds the theory that these stones were taken from Jordan. But there is nothing to countenance this theory in the words of the text.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v5 Vers. 5-7. Besides the monumental stones, an altar of…
Vers. 5-7. Besides the monumental stones, an altar of whole stones, on which no tool had passed (cf. Exo_20:22) was to be erected, and burnt offerings and peace offerings were to be presented as at the establishment of the covenant at Sinai, followed by the statutory festive entertainment. (cf. Exo_24:5)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v6 General Information:
General Information:
Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so the words "you" and "your" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)
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unworked stones
stones in their natural shape that no one has shaped with metal tools
write on the stones
This refers to the stones they were to set up on Mount Ebal and cover with plaster. See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 27:2 and Deuteronomy 27:4.
translationWords
burnt offering
sacrifice
fellowship offering
joy
word
law
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v5 27:5 natural, uncut stones: Archaeological research has uncovered a…
27:5 natural, uncut stones: Archaeological research has uncovered a number of Canaanite altars, all built of hewn blocks. In contrast to this practice, the Israelites were to build their altars only of rough field stones (Exod 20:22-26; see “Altars” Theme Note).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.