Genesis 8:20
New International Version
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.

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.

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.

Berean Standard Bible
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

King James Bible
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 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 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.

NASB 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.

NASB 1977
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.

Amplified Bible
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.

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.

Holman 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.

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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And Noah built an altar to LORD JEHOVAH and he took from all pure animals and from every pure bird, and he offered up burnt offering on the altar.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
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.

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.

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.

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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Noah built an altar to the LORD. On it he made a burnt offering of each type of clean animal and clean bird.

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.

International Standard Version
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings on it from every clean animal and every clean bird.

JPS Tanakh 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.

Literal Standard Version
And Noah builds an altar to YHWH, and takes from every clean beast and from every clean bird, and causes burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;

Majority Standard Bible
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

New American Bible
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

NET Bible
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.

New 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.

New Heart English Bible
Noah built an altar to God, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean flying creature, 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.

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;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Noah Builds an Altar
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.…

Cross References
Genesis 7:2
You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate;

Genesis 8:19
Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird--everything that moves upon the earth--came out of the ark, kind by kind.

Genesis 12:7
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:8
From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 22:2
"Take your son," God said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you."

Genesis 22:9
When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

builded.

Genesis 4:4
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Genesis 12:7,8
And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him…

Genesis 13:4
Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

clean beast.

Genesis 7:2
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

Leviticus 11:1-47
And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, …

burnt.

Leviticus 1:1-17
And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, …

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Altar Animal Animals Ascend Beast Bird Birds Builded Buildeth Built Burned Burnt Burnt-Offerings Causeth Clean Fowl Noah Offered Offerings Sacrificed
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Altar Animal Animals Ascend Beast Bird Birds Builded Buildeth Built Burned Burnt Burnt-Offerings Causeth Clean Fowl Noah Offered Offerings Sacrificed
Genesis 8
1. God remembers Noah and calms the waters.
4. The ark rests on Ararat.
6. Noah sends forth a raven and then a dove.
13. Noah, being commanded, goes forth from the ark.
20. He builds an altar, and offers sacrifices,
21. which God accepts, and promises to curse the earth no more.














(20) Noah builded an altar unto the Lord (Jehovah).--The account of this sacrificial act is said to have been an interpolation of the Jehovist. Really it forms an integral portion of the numerous traditions of the flood. Thus in the Chaldean Genesis, after the sending forth of a dove, a swallow, and a raven, we read (p. 280):--

"I sent them forth to the four winds; I sacrificed a sacrifice;

I built an altar on the peak of the mountain."

This extreme antiquity of sections ascribed to the Jehovist, and supposed to be an after-thought, is seriously detrimental to the whole theory.

One result of the flood was to sweep away all traces of the earthly paradise and of the subsequent abode of Adam; and it is probable also that Noah was removed far away from his previous home by the floating of the ark. Thus to him and his family it was a new earth, with no holy places, no spots hallowed by the past history of man. He therefore determines to consecrate the earth to Jehovah, who had been the object of the worship of his family since the days of Enos, and therefore builds an altar, the first mentioned in the Bible. By so doing he provided for future generations a central spot and sanctuary, round which their religious ideas would group themselves. The animals offered were probably the seventh of all clean kinds (see Note on Genesis 7:2). With Noah's burnt offerings we must not connect any of the later Levitical ideas. Apparently it was a simple thank-offering, the dominant thought of which was the hallowing man's future life by commencing it with worship. It thus contained within it the presage that a better state of things had now begun. Subsequently the thank-offering became a feast, at which the offerer and his family partook of the victim as Jehovah's guests; and as God during this sacrifice gave Noah permission to eat flesh (Genesis 9:3), it is probable that such was the case now, and that the eating of flesh was inaugurated in this solemn way. We have, however, previously seen reason to believe that the flesh of animals had occasionally been eaten before, though not as an ordinary article of diet.

Verse 20. - And Noah builded an altar. Mizbeach, a place for slaying sacrifices, from zabach, to slaughter animals (Genesis 31:54), to slay in sacrifice (Leviticus 9:4; 1 Samuel 1:4), as θυσιαστήριον, from θύειν, is the first altar mentioned in history. The English term (from altus, high) signifies a high place, because the altar was commonly a raised structure or mound of earth or stones (Exodus 20:24). Keil thinks that altars were not required prior to the Flood, the Divine presence being still visibly among men at the gate of Eden, "so that they could turn their offerings and their hearts towards that abode." Poole, Clarke, Bush, and Inglis hold that the antediluvian sacrifices presupposed an altar. Unto the Lord. Jehovah, the God of salvation. And took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl. Vide Genesis 7:2. "Seldom has there been a more liberal offering in proportion to the means of the giver. His whole stock of clean animals, wherewith to fill the world, was seven pairs of each" (Inglis). And offered. By Divine appointment, since his service was accepted; and "all religious services which are not perfumed with the odor of faith are of an ill savor before God (Calvin); but "God is peculiarly well pleased with free-will offerings, and surely, if ever an occasion existed for the exercise of grateful and adoring sentiments, the present was one" (Bush). Burnt offerings. 'oloth, literally, things that ascend, from 'alah, to go up, alluding not to the elevation of the victims on the altar, but to the ascension of the smoke of the burnt offerings to heaven (cf. Judges 20:40; Jeremiah 48:15; Amos 4:10). On the altar.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then Noah
נֹ֛חַ (nō·aḥ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 5146: Noah -- 'rest', patriarch who survived the flood

built
וַיִּ֥בֶן (way·yi·ḇen)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1129: To build

an altar
מִזְבֵּ֖חַ (miz·bê·aḥ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4196: An altar

to the LORD.
לַֽיהוָ֑ה (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

Taking
וַיִּקַּ֞ח (way·yiq·qaḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

from every kind
מִכֹּ֣ל ׀ (mik·kōl)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

of clean
הַטְּהוֹרָ֗ה (haṭ·ṭə·hō·w·rāh)
Article | Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 2889: Clean, pure

animal
הַבְּהֵמָ֣ה (hab·bə·hê·māh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 929: A dumb beast, any large quadruped, animal

and
וּמִכֹּל֙ (ū·mik·kōl)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

clean
הַטָּהֹ֔ר (haṭ·ṭā·hōr)
Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2889: Clean, pure

bird,
הָע֣וֹף (hā·‘ō·wp̄)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5775: Flying creatures

He offered
וַיַּ֥עַל (way·ya·‘al)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5927: To ascend, in, actively

burnt offerings
עֹלֹ֖ת (‘ō·lōṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 5930: Whole burnt offering

on the altar.
בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃ (bam·miz·bê·aḥ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4196: An altar


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OT Law: Genesis 8:20 Noah built an altar to Yahweh (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 8:19
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