Numbers 28

Translator Notes

1. The standard divine speech formula vayedabber YHVH el-Mosheh le'mor introduces a major legislative section on the sacrificial calendar. This formula (dibber, 'spoke') signals authoritative instruction rather than casual conversation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The term qorbani ('My offering') derives from qarav ('to draw near'), emphasizing approach to God rather than mere sacrifice. The phrase lachmi ('My food/bread') uses anthropomorphic language — God does not eat, but the metaphor conveys that offerings sustain the covenantal relationship. The term ishai ('My fire-offerings') and re'ach nichochi ('a pleasing aroma to Me') together express divine acceptance. The word bemo'ado ('at its appointed time') introduces the calendrical framework for the entire section.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The kevashim benei-shanah ('yearling lambs') must be temimim ('unblemished, complete') — physically whole animals reflecting the wholeness required in worship. The phrase olah tamid ('perpetual ascending offering') establishes the baseline sacrificial rhythm upon which all other offerings are layered. The olah ('ascending offering') was entirely consumed on the altar, symbolizing total dedication.

Translator Notes

1. The Hebrew bein ha'arbayim ('between the two evenings') is a debated time marker — it may refer to the period between afternoon decline and sunset, or between sunset and full darkness. The Pharisaic tradition placed it in the mid-afternoon. This division of the day into morning and twilight sacrifices bookends the daylight hours with worship.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The solet ('fine flour') denotes the highest quality milled grain. The KJV's 'meat offering' for minchah is misleading — it is a grain-based offering. The shemen katit ('beaten/pressed oil') specifies premium cold-pressed olive oil. A tenth of an ephah is approximately 2.2 liters of flour; a quarter hin is approximately 1.5 liters of oil.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ha'asuyah behar Sinai ('that was made/established at Mount Sinai') anchors this legislation in the Sinai covenant, grounding the sacrificial calendar in the foundational revelation. The tamid offering is not new but a reaffirmation of what was already instituted (cf. Exodus 29:38-42).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The nesekh ('drink offering, libation') was poured out, not consumed. The term shekhar ('strong drink, fermented beverage') is striking here — it normally appears in prohibitions (Leviticus 10:9). Its use in a sacrificial context suggests a potent fermented grape or grain beverage. The phrase baqqodesh ('in the holy place') specifies the sanctuary location for the pouring.

Translator Notes

1. The evening offering mirrors the morning one exactly: keminchath habboqer ukhenisku ('like the grain offering of the morning and like its drink offering'). This symmetrical structure frames each day in sacrificial worship, creating a rhythm of perpetual dedication. The parashah petuchah marker {פ} indicates a major section break in the scroll.

Translator Notes

1. The Sabbath musaf ('additional offering') doubles the daily tamid — two extra lambs on top of the regular two. The shenei esronim ('two-tenths') of solet doubles the daily grain portion as well. This doubling reflects the Sabbath's elevated sanctity; the day receives twice the worship investment of ordinary days.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase olat Shabbat beShabbato ('the ascending offering of each Sabbath on its Sabbath') uses a distributive construction — every single Sabbath requires this additional offering. Critically, al-olat hatamid ('in addition to the perpetual ascending offering') establishes the layering principle: festival offerings supplement, never replace, the daily tamid.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase uverashei chodsheikhem ('at the heads of your months') refers to Rosh Chodesh, the new moon celebration marking each lunar month's beginning. The offering escalates dramatically from the daily tamid — parim benei-vaqar shenayim ('two young bulls'), a single ayil ('ram'), and shiv'ah kevashim ('seven lambs'). This substantial increase signals the elevated significance of monthly renewal.

Translator Notes

1. The grain offering scales proportionally to the animal's size: sheloshah esronim ('three-tenths') for each par ('bull'), shenei esronim ('two-tenths') for each ayil ('ram'). This proportional system — three for a bull, two for a ram, one for a lamb (v. 13) — maintains a consistent ratio throughout the sacrificial calendar.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase issaron issaron ('a tenth, a tenth') uses repetition distributively — one-tenth of an ephah for each individual lamb. This completes the proportional grain offering scale: 3:2:1 for bull:ram:lamb. The verse concludes with the full formula: olah re'ach nichoach issheh laYHVH, affirming that each offering is acceptable to God.

Translator Notes

1. The drink offerings follow their own proportional scale: chatzi hahin ('half a hin', ~3 liters) for a bull, shelishit hahin ('a third', ~2 liters) for a ram, revi'it hahin ('a quarter', ~1.5 liters) for a lamb. The yayin ('wine') is specified here rather than the shekhar of verse 7. The phrase olat chodesh bechodsho lechodshei hashanah ('monthly ascending offering for each month of the year') mandates twelve such celebrations annually.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The se'ir izzim ('male goat') serves as a chatat ('purification/sin offering'). The chatat addresses communal impurity that accumulates over the month. The layering principle is reiterated: al-olat hatamid ('in addition to the perpetual ascending offering') — the new moon offerings do not substitute for but supplement the daily tamid.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Pesach ('Passover') falls on the fourteenth of the first month (Nisan/Aviv). The term pesach likely derives from pasach ('to pass over, skip over'), recalling how God passed over Israelite homes during the tenth plague. This verse states the date without offering instructions because the Passover lamb follows its own legislation (Exodus 12); what follows concerns the week-long festival of Unleavened Bread.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The chag ('festival, pilgrimage feast') begins the day after Passover. The matzot ('unleavened bread') must be eaten for shiv'at yamim ('seven days'). Leaven symbolizes the old life in Egypt; its removal represents the haste of departure and the purging of corruption. The passive construction ye'akhel ('shall be eaten') makes this a universal obligation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The miqra-qodesh ('sacred assembly, holy convocation') is a called gathering for worship. The prohibition covers kol-melekhet avodah ('any laborious work, occupational work') — this phrase distinguishes festival rest from full Sabbath rest, which prohibits kol-melakhah ('all work'). Food preparation is generally permitted on festival days but not on the Sabbath.

Translator Notes

1. The Passover/Matzot offerings match the new moon offerings exactly (v. 11): parim shenayim ('two bulls'), ayil echad ('one ram'), shiv'ah khevashim benei shanah ('seven yearling lambs'). The phrase temimim yihyu lakhem ('they shall be unblemished for you') places the responsibility for quality inspection on the offerers.

Translator Notes

1. The minchatam ('their grain offering') follows the standard proportional formula established in verses 12-13: sheloshah esronim laPar ('three-tenths for each bull') and shenei esronim la'ayil ('two-tenths for the ram'). The consistency of these ratios across different festivals underscores the systematic nature of Israelite sacrificial legislation.

Translator Notes

1. The distributive issaron issaron ('a tenth, a tenth') emphasizes that each of the shiv'at hakkevashim ('seven lambs') receives its own separate grain portion. The repetition ensures no confusion: seven individual tenth-measures, not one communal portion divided among them.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The se'ir chatat echad ('one male goat as purification offering') serves lekhapper aleikhem ('to make atonement/covering for you'). The root k-p-r carries the sense of 'covering over' or 'wiping clean' — the offering purges accumulated impurity so the community can stand in God's presence during the festival.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase millevad olat habboqer ('apart from the morning ascending offering') reiterates the layering principle: the festival offerings are supplementary. The relative clause asher le'olat hatamid ('which belongs to the perpetual offering') identifies the morning lamb as part of the ongoing tamid system. Festival worship intensifies but never interrupts the daily rhythm.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ka'elleh ta'asu layyom shiv'at yamim ('according to these you shall prepare daily for seven days') mandates that the full Matzot offering sequence repeats for the entire festival week. The term lechem ('food, bread') here refers to the offering as God's 'food' — the same anthropomorphic metaphor from verse 2. The total over seven days is substantial: 14 bulls, 7 rams, 49 lambs, plus 7 goats.

Translator Notes

1. The festival week concludes as it began (v. 18) with a miqra-qodesh ('sacred assembly') and the prohibition of melekhet avodah ('occupational labor'). This bookending structure — sacred assembly on days one and seven — frames the entire festival as a unified period of consecration. The setumah marker {ס} signals a minor section break.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The yom haBikkurim ('Day of Firstfruits') is also called Shavuot ('Weeks') — beshavu'oteikhem ('at your weeks') refers to the seven-week count from Passover (Leviticus 23:15-16). The minchah chadashah ('new grain offering') features the first wheat of the harvest. This verse provides three names for one festival: Firstfruits, Weeks, and (in later tradition) Pentecost (from the Greek for 'fiftieth').

Translator Notes

1. The Shavuot offering matches the Passover/Matzot and new moon offerings in quantity: parim shenayim ('two bulls'), ayil echad ('one ram'), shiv'ah kevashim ('seven yearling lambs'). This uniformity among the spring festivals (excluding Sukkot's distinctive escalation in chapter 29) creates a consistent tier of worship for the pilgrimage festivals.

Translator Notes

1. The minchatam solet belulah bashshamen ('their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil') repeats the standard formula. The proportions remain constant: sheloshah esronim laPar ha'echad ('three-tenths for each bull') and shenei esronim la'ayil ha'echad ('two-tenths for the one ram'). The definite articles (ha'echad) individualize each animal's portion.

Translator Notes

1. The distributive issaron issaron ('a tenth, a tenth') is repeated from verse 21 — lakkevesh ha'echad ('for each individual lamb') across leshiv'at hakkevashim ('the seven lambs'). Seven separate grain portions, one per lamb, totaling seven-tenths of an ephah for the lamb offerings alone.

Translator Notes

1. The se'ir izzim echad ('one male goat') for the Shavuot purification offering mirrors verse 22's Passover provision. The verb lekhapper ('to make atonement, to purge') again employs the k-p-r root. Every major festival requires this purification component — communal gathering before God necessitates communal cleansing.

Translator Notes

1. The closing verse reiterates the supplementary nature of festival offerings: millevad olat hatamid uminchat ('apart from the perpetual ascending offering and its grain offering'). The parenthetical temimim yihyu-lakhem ('they shall be unblemished for you') places the quality requirement last as a final emphatic reminder. The parashah petuchah marker {פ} closes the spring festival cycle, with fall festivals continuing in chapter 29.