To smoke , i.e. turn into fragrance by fire (especially as an act of worship)
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H6999, qāṭar, is a Hebrew verb for making incense or an offering smoke upon an altar. It can describe the daily fragrant incense commanded for Israel's sanctuary service, the burning of sacrificial portions, or offerings made to other gods.
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Full entry for קָטַר (H6999) · Open the biblical lexicon
H6999, qāṭar, is a Hebrew verb for making incense or an offering smoke upon an altar. It can describe the daily fragrant incense commanded for Israel's sanctuary service, the burning of sacrificial portions, or offerings made to other gods.
The BSB source-word alignment has 116 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and burned incense (8), to burn incense (8), and burn (7), and burning incense (5), is to burn (5).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 29:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (33), Jeremiah (21), 2 Chronicles (16), 2 Kings (13).
H6999, qāṭar, is a Hebrew verb for making incense or an offering smoke upon an altar. It can describe the daily fragrant incense commanded for Israel's sanctuary service, the burning of sacrificial portions, or offerings made to other gods. The physical action does not certify faithful worship. The object, altar, worshiper, command, covenant setting, and surrounding conduct determine whether the smoke belongs to obedient service, corrupt worship, arrogant presumption, or exploitation.
Exodus 30 assigns Aaron the regular burning of incense before the Lord near the testimony and mercy seat. The rite belongs to a commanded pattern of priestly service; the verb alone does not turn smoke into a universal spiritual technology. First Samuel 2 shows sacrificial procedure being abused when priests' servants demand meat before the fat is burned and threaten worshipers with force.
Correct ritual vocabulary cannot excuse coercion, greed, or contempt for God's offering. Other narratives make the object of worship decisive. Solomon's turn toward other gods includes altars and incense offered to them. Hezekiah destroys the bronze serpent when a gift once associated with deliverance becomes an object of incense. These passages warn that history, beauty, usefulness, or religious memory cannot make an object worthy of worship.
Yet they do not authorize indiscriminate destruction of art, cultural objects, or another person's property. The narrative identifies covenant idolatry and royal reform within its own authority. Uzziah's attempt to burn incense arises after power feeds arrogance. Consecrated priests resist him, showing that zeal and royal status do not erase accountable boundaries.
This episode should expose leaders who place themselves above correction, but it must not be used to recreate Israel's priestly arrangement unchanged in every church or to deny the access believers have through Christ. Jeremiah 44 connects incense to persistent disobedience, false worship, and disaster, while Malachi 1 anticipates the Lord's name becoming great among the nations with pure offerings.
Both passages require their prophetic arguments. H6999 cannot make any fragrant act acceptable, predict judgment against a modern group, or settle the form of Christian worship by itself. The verb therefore asks more than whether worship feels sacred. Faithful worship receives God's revelation, centers the One to whom worship is due, protects people from exploitation, honors accountable service, and refuses to turn gifts, leaders, or institutions into rivals to God.
H6999 describes incense or sacrificial material being made to smoke. Its witnesses distinguish commanded sanctuary service from priestly exploitation, unauthorized presumption, and offerings to other gods, making the object and moral setting of worship decisive.
And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps.
Aaron is commanded to burn fragrant incense each morning near the testimony as part of Israel's ordered sanctuary service.
And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”
A priest's servant demands meat before the fat is burned and threatens force, turning sacred service into exploitation.
He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Solomon provides high places where incense and sacrifice are offered to other gods as his heart turns from the Lord.
He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.
Hezekiah destroys the bronze serpent after Israelites turn a historic object into something receiving incense.
But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Uzziah's power produces arrogance and an unauthorized attempt to burn incense in the temple.
Because you burned incense and sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in His instruction, His statutes, and His testimonies, this disaster has befallen you, as you see today.”
Jeremiah joins incense offered in disobedience to rejection of the Lord's instruction, statutes, and testimony.
For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Hosts.
The prophet contrasts contempt at the altar with the Lord's name becoming great among the nations and pure offerings presented.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Transform material into fragrant worship through fire; primary sacrificial act mediating between divine and human realms.
Transform material into fragrant worship through fire; primary sacrificial act mediating between divine and human realms.
to smoke, i.e. turn into fragrance by fire (especially as an act of worship) BDB: incense Usage: burn (incense, sacrifice) (upon), (altar for) incense, kindle, offer (incense, a sacrifice).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 117 lexical occurrence verses.
קָטַר is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
First Samuel 2 shows why H6999 cannot be reduced to a pleasing religious image. The sacrificial fat is supposed to be burned, but the priestly household's servants demand their portion first and threaten worshipers with force. The chapter calls this contempt for the Lord's offering. Ritual responsibility becomes a site of extraction when leaders use sacred access to serve appetite.
Uzziah repeats the danger from another direction: royal power convinces him that consecrated boundaries no longer apply, and he rages when priests correct him. Hezekiah's treatment of the bronze serpent adds a third test. An object associated with God's earlier deliverance has become an object of incense, so covenant reform refuses to let sacred history compete with the living God.
These accounts do not authorize leaders to destroy whatever they dislike. They do require communities to ask whether a practice honors God, protects worshipers, remains accountable to revealed truth, and resists the elevation of gifts into gods. H6999 makes worship morally specific. Fragrance, atmosphere, heritage, and office may serve worship, but none can substitute for obedience, justice, humility, and the true object of devotion.
1Sam.2.16
H6999 is a verb concentrated in intensive and causative stems. English renderings include burn incense, burn a sacrificial portion, offer, or make smoke. The direct object and cultic setting determine whether incense or another altar portion is in view.
New Testament visions and prayers can associate incense imagery with the prayers of God's people, while Hebrews centers access to God in Jesus' priestly work. Those canonical links do not make every incense term lexically identical or require Christians to reproduce Israel's altar service.