Hebrews9:4

Translation

containing the ark of the covenant and the golden altar of incense . . .

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Paraphrase

That holiest of all places contains the ark of the covenant and, in order to give it proper importance, we should think of the pure altar which sends up to God everything we are and have as being there too.

Footnotes

1

In reality the altar of incense stood just outside the Most Holy Place. The authors of Hebrews purposefully described the location of the altar of incense to be it in a more important place than it actually occupied in order to make a point about the importance of the ways we offer ourselves to God, such as prayer, worship and other related acts. This “change” gave prayer and its companions even greater prominence. He was basically saying, “We cannot overemphasize the importance of self-surrender. In our perception, we should give acts of surrender, such as prayer and worship, the highest level of esteem.”