Exodus 20:25
And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled.
Open Exodus 20:25 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quod si altare lapideum feceris mihi, non ædificabis illud de sectis lapidibus : si enim levaveris cultrum super eo, polluetur.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐὰν δὲ θυσιαστήριον ἐκ λίθων ποιῇς μοι, οὐκ οἰκοδομήσεις αὐτοὺς τμητούς· τὸ γὰρ ἐνχειρίδιόν σου ἐπιβέβληκας ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς καὶ μεμίανται.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְאִם מִזְבַּ֤ח אֲבָנִים֙ תַּֽעֲשֶׂה לִּ֔י לֹֽא תִבְנֶ֥ה אֶתְהֶ֖ן גָּזִ֑ית כִּ֧י חַרְבְּךָ֛ הֵנַ֥פְתָּ עָלֶ֖יהָ וַתְּחַֽלְלֶֽהָ
Haydock's commentary
Defiled; because done in opposition to God's order, who required, on this occasion, the utmost simplicity, to prevent any undue veneration. Iron was not used about the tabernacle or temple, as brass was more common. Altars raised in haste, like that, Deuteronomy xxvii. and Josue viii. 30, and that which was designed for the ratification of the covenant, (chap. xxiv. 4,) were required to be of this construction, unpolished and simple, as was the altar erected, 1 Machabees iv. 47. But other altars were not built after this model. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.