Numbers 29
1 “ On the first day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This will be a day for you to sound the trumpets. 2 As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 3 together with their grain offerings of fine flour mixed with oil — three-tenths of an ephah with the bull, two-tenths of an ephah with the ram, 4 and a tenth of an ephah with each of the seven male lambs. 5 Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 6 These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their prescribed grain offerings and drink offerings. They are a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1–34; Leviticus 23:26–32) 7 On the tenth day of this seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and you shall humble yourselves; you must not do any work. 8 Present as a pleasing aroma to the LORD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 9 together with their grain offerings of fine flour mixed with oil — three-tenths of an ephah with the bull, two-tenths of an ephah with the ram, 10 and a tenth of an ephah with each of the seven lambs. 11 Include one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offerings. The Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:13–17) 12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the LORD for seven days. 13 As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 14 along with the grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil with each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths of an ephah with each of the two rams, 15 and a tenth of an ephah with each of the fourteen lambs. 16 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 17 On the second day you are to present twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 18 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 19 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 20 On the third day you are to present eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 21 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 22 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 23 On the fourth day you are to present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 24 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 25 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 26 On the fifth day you are to present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 27 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 28 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 29 On the sixth day you are to present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 30 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 31 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 32 On the seventh day you are to present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 33 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 34 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 35 On the eighth day you are to hold a solemn assembly; you must not do any regular work. 36 As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished, 37 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. 38 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. 39 You are to present these offerings to the LORD at your appointed times, in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, or peace offerings.” 40 So Moses spoke all this to the Israelites just as the LORD had commanded him.
✦ What the text says
## Summary
Numbers 29 legislates the sacrificial calendar for the seventh month: the Feast of Trumpets (day 1), the Day of Atonement (day 10), and the seven-day Feast of Booths (days 15–21) plus its eighth-day closing assembly. For each occasion the text specifies the required burnt offerings (bulls, rams, lambs), their accompanying grain and drink offerings, and a goat *chatat* ("sin offering", H2403H), with the bull count decreasing by one each day of the seven-day feast (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7).
## Key words
- *mikra' qodesh* ("a convocation of holiness", H4744/H6944G) — a construct phrase naming a fixed sacred assembly; it recurs for the 1st, 10th, and 15th of the month, marking each as a day of required gathering.
- *teru'ah* ("the sound of a loud blast", H8643) — appears only in v.1, giving the first day of the month its distinguishing feature, a day marked by blast-sound rather than by the fasting language used for day 10.
- *temimim* ("unblemished", H8549G) — masculine plural adjective repeatedly qualifying the lambs (and by extension the herd animals), specifying the required physical condition of every sacrificial animal listed.
- *chatat* ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun paired each time with *se'ir 'izzim 'echad* ("one male goat"), marking the recurring goat offering distinct from the burnt offerings.
- *mo'adei* ("appointed feasts", H4150H construct plural with suffix "your") in v.39 — construct form linking the whole chapter's offerings back to Israel's set festival calendar, distinguishing them explicitly from votive and freewill offerings (*nidrei*, H5088; *nidvotei*, H5071).
## What the text says
The chapter is built as a series of repeated formulaic units: a temporal heading (*u-va-choshesh...*, "and on the ... day of the month"), a statement that the day *yihyeh lakhem* ("it will be to you", H1961 + H9036) as a holy convocation, a prohibition using *lo' ta'asu* ("you will not do", H3808 + H6213A) for "any work," followed by lists of burnt-offering animals with the passive participle *belulah* ("mixed", H1101A) describing the flour mixed with oil, and a closing *mi-levad* ("besides", H0905J) clause tying each day's offerings to the unchanging *olat ha-tamid* ("the burnt offering of continuity/regularity", H5930A + H8548). The numerical bull sequence in the seven-day feast (13 down to 7) is expressed through construct chains like *pharim... shelosha 'asar* ("young bulls...thirteen") without narrative comment on the decreasing pattern itself — the Hebrew simply states each day's total, verse by verse, with no explanatory clause linking the numbers together.
The verb form *ve-hiqravtem* ("and you will bring near", H7126H, hiphil sequential perfect) recurs to introduce each major offering unit, syntactically chaining every day's ritual to the one before it as part of a single continuous instruction beginning in v.1 and closing with Moses' report to the *benei Yisra'el* ("people/sons of Israel", H1121G) in v.40 that he spoke *kekol 'asher tzivvah Yahweh* ("according to all that Yahweh had commanded", H6680, piel perfect).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.