32. Altar

The words,βωμός and θυσιαστήριον both signify altar,' but it is interesting to notice that while the former is employed when Paul spoke of the heathen altar at Athens (Acts 17:2323For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. (Acts 17:23), the only occurrence of the word in the N. T.), the latter is always used by him when speaking of the altar of the temple, and also when referring to Christ as the believer's altar in Heb. 13:1010We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. (Hebrews 13:10). James also uses the same word when speaking of the altar on which Abraham offered his son Isaac.
The LXX always preserves the same difference in the use of the two words in the canonical books: indeed, it has been judged by scholars that the word θυσιαστήριον was coined by the translators of the LXX for the purpose of making the distinction. It is derived from θυσιάζω ‘to sacrifice;' whereas βωμός signifies simply ‘a raised place.'