Deuteronomy 27:5

WEB

There you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones: you shall lift up no iron on them.

KJV

And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

Commentary

And there shall thou build an altar to the Lord thy God,.... On the same mountain, though not of the same stones. Jarchi's note is,"after that (the setting up of the plastered stones) t hou shalt bring from thence (from Jordan) others, and build of them an altar on Mount Ebal;''but Josephus (t) places this altar not on Mount Ebal, but between that and Gerizim. This altar, he says, was ordered to be built towards the rising sun, not far from the city of Shechem, between two mountains, Gerizim and Ebal; but the text is express, that it was to be built where the stones were set up, which was on Mount Ebal, and there it was built, Jos 8:30 ; an altar of stones; of whole stones, as in Deu 27:6 , not broken, nor hewed, but rough as they were when taken out of the quarry: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them; to hew them, and make them smooth; See Gill on Exo 20:25 ; (t) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 44.)