G2379 — θυσιαστήριον (thysiastērion)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G2379
Original: θυσιαστήριον
Transliteration: thysiastērion
Pronunciation: thoo-see-as-tay'-ree-on
Part of Speech: Neuter noun
Root: G2380 θύω (thyō) — to sacrifice, slay
Occurrences: 23 in NT (22 KJV translation instances)
First Occurrence: Matt 5:23 — "if thou bring thy gift to the altar"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From a derivative of G2380 (θύω); a place of sacrifice, i.e. an altar. The word literally means "a place for slaughtering/sacrificing." Unlike G1041 (βωμός), which is the generic Greek term for any altar, θυσιαστήριον is used exclusively in biblical Greek for the altar of the true God (both earthly and heavenly).

Semantic Domains¶

Louw-Nida: - 6.115 — Furniture (within 6 — Artifacts)

Glosses: altar

Other words in domain: βωμός (bōmos, altar/pagan), θρόνος (thronos, throne), θυμιατήριον (thymiatērion, incense altar)

UBS Semantic Domains: - [006] Artifacts

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
altar	20	90.9%
altars	1	4.5%
an altar	1	4.5%

Virtually uniform translation — "altar" accounts for all 22 occurrences.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Revelation	8	2.0
Matthew	6	0.6
1 Corinthians	3	0.7
Luke	2	0.2
Hebrews	2	0.7
Romans	1	0.2

Heavy concentration in Revelation (36% of all uses), where it refers to the heavenly altar. Matthew clusters around Jesus' teaching about temple worship (ch. 5, 23). Absent from Mark, John, and most epistles.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Temple Altar of Sacrifice / Service¶

Matt 5:23 — "if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee"
Matt 5:24 — "Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way"
1 Cor 9:13 — "they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar"
1 Cor 10:18 — "are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?"
Heb 7:13 — "of which no man gave attendance at the altar"

2. Altar of Incense¶

Luke 1:11 — "an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense"
Rev 8:3 — "stood at the altar, having a golden censer... upon the golden altar which was before the throne"
Rev 9:13 — "a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God"

3. Scene of Bloodshed / Martyrdom¶

Matt 23:35 — "from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias... whom ye slew between the temple and the altar"
Luke 11:51 — "the blood of Abel... which perished between the altar and the temple"
Rev 6:9 — "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God"

4. Oath and Sanctification¶

Matt 23:18 — "Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing"
Matt 23:19 — "whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?"
Matt 23:20 — "Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon"

5. Heavenly / Eschatological Altar¶

Rev 8:5 — "the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar"
Rev 11:1 — "Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar"
Rev 14:18 — "another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire"
Rev 16:7 — "I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty"

6. Christological / Theological¶

Heb 13:10 — "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle"
James 2:21 — "Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar"
Rom 11:3 — "Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars" (quoting 1 Kings 19:10)

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
ἄγγελος (aggelos)	G32	6x	angel standing at / coming from the altar (Rev)
δῶρον (dōron)	G1435	4x	bringing a gift to the altar (Matt 5, 23)
θεός (theos)	G2316	4x	altar of/before God
ἵστημι (histēmi)	G2476	3x	standing at the altar
κύριος (kyrios)	G2962	3x	altar of the Lord
αἷμα (haima)	G129	2x	blood shed near the altar
ὀμνύω (omnyō)	G3660	2x	swearing by the altar (Matt 23)

Word Family / Cognates¶

G2380 θύω (thyō) — to sacrifice, slay, kill (14x) — the root verb
G2378 θυσία (thysía) — sacrifice, the act or victim (29x) — the offering placed on the altar
G2374 θύρα (thyra) — door (39x) — unrelated despite surface similarity (different root)

Synonyms¶

search_relationships.py surfaced loose study-neighbor matches rather than usable lexical synonyms for G2379, so no true synonyms are listed here.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G2379.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
βωμός (bōmos)	G1041	"altar" (1x, Acts 17:23)	Generic Greek for any altar; used only once in NT for the pagan "unknown god" altar. θυσιαστήριον is reserved for God's altar.
θυμιατήριον (thymiatērion)	G2369	—	Incense altar or censer (Heb 9:4). θυσιαστήριον covers both sacrifice and incense altars depending on context.

Hebrew Source¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Frequency	Notes
מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbêach)	H4196	299 (PMI 6.05)	Primary — standard OT altar (from זָבַח, to slaughter)
קָטַר (qâṭar)	H6999	46 (PMI 4.94)	To burn incense — associated but not equivalent
עֹלָה (ʻôlâh)	H5930	65 (PMI 4.18)	Burnt offering — what goes on the altar

The LXX consistently renders H4196 (mizbêach) as θυσιαστήριον, making this the dominant Hebrew→Greek bridge for the altar concept.