Exodus 27:2
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And you shall make the horns of it on the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and you shall overlay it with brass.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And you shall make the horns of it on the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and you shall overlay it with brass.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof; the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Put horns at the four angles of it, made of the same, plating it all with brass.
Webster's Revision
And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: its horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
World English Bible
You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it; and you shall overlay it with brass.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
Clarke's Exodus 27:2 Bible Commentary
Thou shalt make the horns of it - The horns might have three uses:
1. For ornament.
2. To prevent carcasses, etc., from falling off.
3. To tie the victim to, previously to its being sacrificed.
So David: Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar; Psalm 118:27. Horns were much used in all ancient altars among the heathen, and some of them were entirely constructed of the horns of the beasts that had been offered in sacrifice; but such altars appear to be erected rather as trophies in honor of their gods. On the reverses of several medals we find altars represented with horns at the corners. There is a medal of Antoninus on the reverse of which is an altar, on which a fire burns, consecrated Divi Pio, where the horns appear on each of the corners.
There is one of Faustina, on which the altar and its horns are very distinct, the legend Pietas Augusta. All the following have altars with horns. One of Valerian, legend Consecratio; one of Claudius Gothicus, same legend; one of Quintillus, same legend; one of Crispina, with the legend Diis Genitalibus; and several others. See Numismatica Antiq., a Musellio, under Consecratio, in the index.
Callimachus, in his Hymn to Apollo, line 60 introduces him constructing an altar of the horns of the animals slain by Diana:
- πηξε δε βωμον
Εκ κεραων κ. τ. λ.
Martial has these words: Cornibus ara frequens.
Barnes's Exodus 27:2 Bible Commentary
His horns shall be of the same - These horns were projections pointing upward in the form either of a small obelisk, or of the horn of an ox. They were to be actually parts of the altar, not merely superadded to it. On them the blood of the sin-offering was smeared Exodus 29:12; Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 8:15; Leviticus 9:9; Leviticus 16:18. To take hold of them appears to have been regarded as an emphatic mode of laying claim to the supposed right of sanctuary (Exodus 21:14 note; 1 Kings 1:50).
Wesley's Exodus 27:2 Bible Commentary
27:2 The horns of it, were for ornament and for use; the sacrifices were bound with cords to the horns of the altar, and to them malefactors fled for refuge.
