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Genesis 8:20

And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Covenant;   Flood;   Noah;   Sheep;   Thankfulness;   Scofield Reference Index - Sacrifice;   Thompson Chain Reference - Altars;   Noah;   Worship;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Altars;   Beasts;   Birds;   Burnt Offering, the;   Patriarchal Government;   Priests;   Sacrifices;   Sheep;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Doves;   Sabbath;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Noah;   Priest;   Sacrifice;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Flood, the;   Offerings and Sacrifices;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Holocaust;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Burnt Offering;   Fire;   High Place;   Priest;   Sacrifice;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Burnt Offering;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Dispensation;   History;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Clean and Unclean;   Deluge;   Sacrifice and Offering;   Time;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Sacrifices ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Animals, Clean and Unclean;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Noah;   Priest;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Altar;   Burnt offering;   Clean and unclean;   Flood;   Noah;   Offering;   Priest;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Sacrifice;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Burnt offering;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Job;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Noah;   Priesthood, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Altar;   Christ, Offices of;   Fowl;   Genesis;   Intercession;   Israel, Religion of;   Mediation;   Noah (1);   Priesthood;   Sacrifice;   Worship;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Burnt-offerings;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Altar;   Burnt Offering;   Clean and Unclean Animals;   Family and Family Life;   Sacrifice;   Shem;   Temple in Rabbinical Literature;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for March 20;  

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Update Bible Version
And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.
New Century Version
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord . He took some of all the clean birds and animals, and he burned them on the altar as offerings to God.
New English Translation
Noah built an altar to the Lord . He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.
World English Bible
Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Noe bildide an auter to the Lord, and he took of alle clene beestis and briddis, and offride brent sacrifices on the auter.
Young's Literal Translation
And Noah buildeth an altar to Jehovah, and taketh of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and causeth burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;
Berean Standard Bible
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. Taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Contemporary English Version
Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the Lord . Then he offered on the altar one of each kind of animal and bird that could be used for a sacrifice.
Complete Jewish Bible
Noach built an altar to Adonai . Then he took from every clean animal and every clean bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
American Standard Version
And Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.
Bible in Basic English
And Noah made an altar to the Lord, and from every clean beast and bird he made burned offerings on the altar.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Noah builded an aulter vnto ye Lorde, and tooke of euery cleane beast, and of euery cleane foule, & offred burnt offering on the aulter
Darby Translation
And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then Noah built an altar to honor the Lord . Noah took some of all the clean birds and some of all the clean animals and burned them on the altar as a gift to God.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.
King James Version (1611)
And Noah builded an Altar vnto the LORD, and tooke of euery cleane beast, and of euery cleane fowle, and offred burnt offrings on the Altar.
King James Version
And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord ; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
New Life Bible
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and gave burnt gifts in worship on the altar.
New Revised Standard
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord , and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Noah builded an altar to Yahweh, - and took of all the clean beasts and of all the clean birds, and caused ascending Sacrifices to go up on the altar.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord & tooke of euery cleane beast, & of euery cleane foule, and offered burnt offerings vpon the altar.
George Lamsa Translation
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD; and took of every clean animal and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Good News Translation
Noah built an altar to the Lord ; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird, and burned them whole as a sacrifice on the altar.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar.
Revised Standard Version
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Noe built an altar to the Lord, and took of all clean beasts, and of all clean birds, and offered a whole burnt-offering upon the altar.
English Revised Version
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Christian Standard Bible®
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Hebrew Names Version
Noach built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Lexham English Bible
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.
Literal Translation
And Noah built an altar to Jehovah, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Noe buylded an altare vnto ye LORDE, and toke of all maner of cleane beastes & of all maner of cleane foules, and offred bret sacrifices vpon ye altare.
THE MESSAGE
Noah built an altar to God . He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, "I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done.
New American Standard Bible
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took some of every kind of clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
New King James Version
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
New Living Translation
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord , and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Contextual Overview

20And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.21The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man's heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 22"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

builded: Genesis 4:4, Genesis 12:7, Genesis 12:8, Genesis 13:4, Genesis 22:9, Genesis 26:25, Genesis 33:20, Genesis 35:1, Genesis 35:7, Exodus 20:24, Exodus 20:25, Exodus 24:4-8, Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:10, Hebrews 13:15, Hebrews 13:16, 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 2:9

clean beast: Genesis 7:2, Leviticus 11:1-47

burnt: Leviticus 1:1-17

Reciprocal: Genesis 13:18 - altar Genesis 22:7 - but Genesis 46:1 - and offered Exodus 18:12 - took Leviticus 1:3 - a burnt Leviticus 1:10 - of the flocks Numbers 7:21 - General Numbers 23:3 - burnt Joshua 8:30 - built an altar 2 Samuel 24:25 - built there Job 1:5 - offered Ezekiel 14:14 - Noah Jonah 1:16 - offered

Cross-References

Genesis 4:4
But Abel brought [an offering of] the [finest] firstborn of his flock and the fat portions. And the LORD had respect (regard) for Abel and for his offering;
Genesis 7:2
"Of every clean animal you shall take with you seven pair, the male and his female, and of animals that are not clean, two each the male and his female;
Genesis 8:1
And God remembered and thought kindly of Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters receded.
Genesis 8:4
On the seventeenth day of the seventh month [five months after the rain began], the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat [in Turkey].
Genesis 8:7
and he sent out a raven, which flew here and there until the waters were dried up from the earth.
Genesis 8:8
Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the water level had fallen below the surface of the land.
Genesis 8:15
And God spoke to Noah, saying,
Genesis 8:16
"Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you.
Genesis 8:17
"Bring out with you every living thing from all flesh—birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."
Genesis 13:4
where he had first built an altar; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD [in prayer].

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord,.... Not an house for himself and his family, but an altar for God; his first and greatest concern being for the glory of God, and not for the temporal good of himself and his: this altar was erected, and devoted to the service of God; it was built according to his will, and by his direction: Noah's view was to renew the worship of God, preserve and propagate it by his example; and this was done by way of thanksgiving to God for his wonderful preservation of him, and was also propitiatory and typical of Christ: the Jewish writers d say, this was the altar on which Adam sacrificed, when expelled the garden of Eden, and on which Cain and Abel offered; and being demolished by the flood, was rebuilt by Noah, which is not at all probable; it is much more likely what Aben Ezra says, that it was built on one of the mountains of Ararat, and that as Noah took the first opportunity, so he built it in the first place he came to, or at least not far from the place where he came out of the ark:

and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar; the clean beasts were the bullock, the sheep, and goat, and the clean fowl, the turtle and young pigeon, one of each sort at least was taken. The Targum of Jonathan says, he offered four upon the altar: these were typical of Christ; the bullock or heifer might denote his strength, the sheep or lamb his patience and harmlessness, the turtle or dove his meekness; and being burnt offerings, may signify the painful and dolorous sufferings of Christ, when the wrath of God was poured on him like fire.

d Zohar in Gen. fol. 51. 3, 4. Targum Jon. in loc. Pirke Eliezer, c. 23.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- XXVII. The Ark Was Evacuated

19. משׁפחה mı̂shpāchah, “kind, clan, family.” שׁפחה shı̂pchâh, “maid-servant; related: spread.”

20. מזבח mı̂zbēach, “altar; related: slay animals, sacrifice.”

21. עלה 'olâh, “whole burnt-offering.” That which goes up. “Step; related: go up.”

Genesis 8:15-19

The command to leave the ark is given and obeyed. As Noah did not enter, so neither does he leave the ark, without divine direction. “The fowl, the cattle, and the creeper.” Here, again, these three classes are specified under the general head of every living tiring. They are again to multiply on the earth. “Every living thing.” This evidently takes the place of the cattle mentioned before. “After their families.” This word denotes their tribes. It is usually applied to families or clans.

Genesis 8:20-22

The offering of Noah accepted. The return to the dry land, through the special mercy of God to Noah and his house, is celebrated by an offering of thanksgiving and faith. “Builded an altar.” This is the first mention of the altar, or structure for the purpose of sacrifice. The Lord is now on high, having swept away the garden, and withdrawn his visible presence at the same time from the earth. The altar is therefore erected to point toward his dwelling-place on high. “Unto the Lord.” The personal name of God is especially appropriate here, as he has proved himself a covenant keeper and a deliverer to Noah. “Of all clean cattle, and every clean fowl.” The mention of clean birds renders it probable that these only were taken into the ark by seven pairs Genesis 7:3. Every fit animal is included in this sacrifice, as it is expressive of thanksgiving for a complete deliverance. We have also here the first mention of the burnt-offering עלה 'olâh; the whole victim, except the skin, being burned on the altar. Sacrifice is an act in which the transgressor slays an animal and offers it in whole, or in part as representative of the whole, to God. In this act he acknowledges his guilt, the claim of the offended law upon his life, and the mercy of the Lord in accepting a substitute to satisfy this claim for the returning penitent. He at the same time actually accepts the mercy of the Most High, and comes forward to plead it in the appointed way of reconciliation. The burnt-offering is the most perfect symbol of this substitution, and most befitting the present occasion, when life has been granted to the inmates of the ark amidst the universal death.

Genesis 8:21

The effect of this plea is here described. The Lord smelled the sweet savor. He accepted the typical substitute, and, on account of the sacrifice, the offerers, the surviving ancestors of the post-diluvian race. Thus, the re-entrance of the remnant of mankind upon the joys and tasks of life is inaugurated by an articulate confession of sin, a well-understood foreshadowing of the coming victim for human guilt, and a gracious acceptance of this act of faith. “The Lord said in his heart.” It is the inward resolve of his will. The purpose of mercy is then expressed in a definite form, suited to the present circumstances of the delivered family. “I will not again curse the soil any more on account of man.” This seems at first sight to imply a mitigation of the hardship and toil which man was to experience in cultivating the ground Genesis 3:17. At all events, this very toil is turned into a blessing to him who returns from his sin and guilt, to accept the mercy, and live to the glory of his Maker and Saviour. But the main reference of the passage is doubtless to the curse of a deluge such as what was now past. This will not be renewed. “Because the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth.” This is the reason for the past judgment, the curse upon the soil: not for the present promise of a respite for the future. Accordingly, it is to be taken in close connection with the cursing of the soil, of which it assigns the judicial cause. It is explanatory of the preceding phrase, on account of man. The reason for the promise of escape from the fear of a deluge for the future is the sacrifice of Noah, the priest and representative of the race, with which the Lord is well pleased. The closing sentence of this verse is a reiteration in a more explicit form of the same promise. “Neither will I again smite all living as I have done.” There will be no repetition of the deluge that had just overswept the land and destroyed the inhabitants.

Genesis 8:22

Henceforth all the days of the earth. - After these negative assurances come the positive blessings to be permanently enjoyed while the present constitution of the earth continues. These are summed up in the following terms:



HEAT Sowing, beginning in October

Reaping, ending in June
COLD Early fruit, in July

Fruit harvest, ending in September



The cold properly occupies the interval between sowing and reaping, or the months of January and February. From July to September is the period of heat. In Palestine, the seedtime began in October or November, when the wheat was sown. Barley was not generally sown until January. The grain harvest began early in May, and continued in June. The early fruits, such as grapes and figs, made their appearance in July and August; the full ingathering, in September and October. But the passage before us is not limited to the seasons of any particular country. Besides the seasons, it guarantees the continuance of the agreeable vicissitudes of day and night. It is probable that even these could not be distinguished during part of the deluge of waters. At all events, they did not present any sensible change when darkness reigned over the primeval abyss.

The term of this continuance is here defined. It is to last as long as the order of things introduced by the six days’ creation endures. This order is not to be sempiternal. When the race of man has been filled up, it is here hinted that the present system of nature on the earth may be expected to give place to another and a higher order of things.

Here it is proper to observe the mode of Scripture in the promise of blessing. In the infancy of mankind, when the eye gazed on the present, and did not penetrate into the future, the Lord promised the immediate and the sensible blessings of life, because these alone are as yet intelligible to the childlike race, and they are, at the same time, the immediate earnest of endless blessings. As the mind developes, and the observable universe becomes more fully comprehended, these present and sensible sources of creature happiness correspondingly expand, and higher and more ethereal blessings begin to dawn upon the mind. When the prospect of death opens to the believer a new and hitherto unknown world of reality, then the temporal and corporeal give way to the eternal and spiritual. And as with the individual, so is it with the race. The present boon is the earnest in hand, fully satisfying the existing aspirations of the infantile desire. But it is soon found that the present is always the bud of the future; and as the volume of promise is unrolled, piece by piece, before the eye of the growing race, while the present and the sensible lose nothing of their intrinsic value, the opening glories of intellectual and spiritual enjoyment add an indescribable zest to the blessedness of a perpetuated life. Let not us, then, who flow in the full tide of the latter day, despise the rudiment of blessing in the first form in which it was conferred on Noah and his descendants; but rather remember that is not the whole content of the divine good-will, but only the present shape of an ever-expanding felicity, which is limited neither by time nor sense.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 8:20. Noah builded an altar — As we have already seen that Adam, Cain, and Abel, offered sacrifices, there can be no doubt that they had altars on which they offered them; but this, builded by Noah, is certainly the first on record. It is worthy of remark that, as the old world began with sacrifice, so also did the new. Religion or the proper mode of worshipping the Divine Being, is the invention or institution of God himself; and sacrifice, in the act and design, is the essence of religion. Without sacrifice, actually offered or implied, there never was, there never can be, any religion. Even in the heavens, a lamb is represented before the throne of God as newly slain, Revelation 5:6; Revelation 5:12-13. The design of sacrificing is two-fold: the slaying and burning of the victim point out, 1st, that the life of the sinner is forfeited to Divine justice; 2dly, that his soul deserves the fire of perdition.

The Jews have a tradition that the place where Noah built his altar was the same in which the altar stood which was built by Adam, and used by Cain and Abel, and the same spot on which Abraham afterwards offered up his son Isaac.

The word מזבח mizbach, which we render altar, signifies properly a place for sacrifice, as the root זבח zabach signifies simply to slay. Altar comes from the Latin altus, high or elevated, because places for sacrifice were generally either raised very high or built on the tops of hills and mountains; hence they are called high places in the Scriptures; but such were chiefly used for idolatrous purposes.

Burnt-offerings — See the meaning of every kind of offering and sacrifice largely explained on Leviticus 7:1-38.


 
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