What Does Exodus 30:3 Mean?
And you shall sheathe it in pure gold, its top and its sides round about, and its horns; and you shall make for it a rim of gold round about.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.THE KEY
Pure gold covers the altar’s top, sides, and horns, then circles its edge: the covering reaches every surface and projection.
THE MEANING
The altar is coated in pure gold across its top, sides, and horns, with a gold crown running all around it. Nothing in the description is left outside the covering, including the projecting horns and the full perimeter.
THE ROOT
טָהוֹר
ṭāhôr
GROWS FROM
טהר
ṭ-h-r
To be clean, pure, or clear.
“pure” in this verse is ṭāhôr. The gold is not merely gold; it is described as clean and clear in quality. The same root can describe both a clean state and the act of becoming clean, so purity carries the sense of something cleared through and through.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhēr: To cleanse or become clean.
טָהֵר
The verb shows purity as a condition that can be reached by clearing away what covers it.
ṭāhorah: Cleansing or purity.
טָהֳרָה
This noun shares the root’s sense of cleanness, echoing the verse’s emphasis on the quality of the gold.
קַרְנֹתָיו
qarnotav root
GROWS FROM
קרן
q-r-n
Horn; something that projects or sends out rays.
The Hebrew word for the altar’s horns belongs to the same consonant family as a verb for shining or sending out rays. The verse includes these projecting points within the gold covering, so even the altar’s extensions share its finish.
ALSO GROWS
qeren: Horn; a projecting point or ray.
קֶרֶן
This is the singular form behind “horns,” emphasizing their shape as extensions from the altar.
qāran: To shine or send out rays, as in Exodus 34:29.
קָרַן
The shared consonants link the horn’s projection with radiance, adding a sense of outward reach to the image.
סָבִיב
saviv
GROWS FROM
סבב
s-b-b
To turn around or encircle.
“round about” in this verse is saviv. The verse uses this word for the gold around the sides and again for the crown around the altar. The repetition makes enclosure part of the design: the finish does not stop at a face but completes the circuit.
ALSO GROWS
saviv: Around; surrounding.
סָבִיב
This is the word used for the altar’s surrounding sides and its encircling crown.
sovev: Surrounding; one who encircles.
סוֹבֵב
This related form keeps the active sense of making a circuit around something.
THE PATTERN
Set-apart objects and spaces are described as covered or enclosed with precious material.
And you sheathe it in clean gold, and make for it a rim of gold round about. And you make for it a frame a hand's breadth round about, and you make a rim of gold for its frame round about.Which holds the golden censer and the ark of the covenant, covered on every side with gold, and in it the golden jar holding the manna, Aaron's rod that sprouted, and the flat stones of the covenant.And the wall is built of jasper, and the city is clean gold, like clear glass.THE THREAD
For I, says the LORD, will be to her a wall of fire all around, and I will be the weight in the midst of her.“Round about” here is סָבִיב (saviv), from סבב (savav), the same encircling word used for the altar’s crown. In Exodus the gold completes the altar’s perimeter; Zechariah uses the same surrounding image for a wall of fire around a city.
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