Numbers 29

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The yom teru'ah ('day of blasting/shouting') opens the fall festival season. The term teru'ah denotes a loud blast — whether from a shofar (ram's horn) or silver trumpet — or a shout of alarm/joy. Later Jewish tradition identifies this as Rosh Hashanah ('Head of the Year'), though the Torah does not use that term. The seventh month (Tishrei) is the most festival-dense month in the calendar.

Translator Notes

1. The Trumpets offering is notably smaller than new moon or pilgrimage festivals: only par echad ('one bull') compared to the usual two. This may reflect the day's primary function as proclamation and preparation rather than culmination. The single bull, single ram, and seven lambs create a focused, restrained offering that contrasts sharply with Sukkot's lavish quantities (vv. 13-34).

Translator Notes

1. The grain offering proportions follow the standard formula: sheloshah esronim laPar ('three-tenths for the bull') and shenei esronim la'ayil ('two-tenths for the ram'). With only one bull here, the total grain offering is smaller than at new moon or Passover.

Translator Notes

1. The issaron echad lakkevesh ha'echad ('one-tenth for each individual lamb') continues the per-lamb distribution. The slightly different phrasing from 28:13's issaron issaron reflects stylistic variation rather than a different requirement — each lamb receives one-tenth of an ephah of flour.

Translator Notes

1. The se'ir-izzim echad chatat ('one male goat as purification offering') appears at every festival. As the first of the fall festivals, this purification offering inaugurates the intensifying sequence of atonement that culminates ten days later on Yom Kippur (v. 11). The verb lekhapper ('to make atonement') here prepares the community for the deeper cleansing ahead.

Translator Notes

1. Since Trumpets falls on the first day of the seventh month, three layers of offering stack: the tamid (daily), the olat hachodesh ('new moon offering'), and the Trumpets musaf. The phrase kemishpatam ('according to their prescribed measure/regulation') refers to the established drink offering ratios from 28:14. The layering produces an especially full day of sacrifice.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is introduced with the command ve'innitem et-nafshoteikhem ('you shall humble/afflict your souls'). The verb innah ('to humble, afflict, deny') encompasses fasting and abstention from bodily comforts. Notably, the prohibition here is kol-melakhah ('any work whatsoever'), stricter than the festival prohibition of melekhet avodah ('occupational work') — placing Yom Kippur's rest on par with the Sabbath.

Translator Notes

1. The Yom Kippur musaf offering matches the Trumpets offering exactly: par echad ('one bull'), ayil echad ('one ram'), shiv'ah kevashim ('seven lambs'). This is the musaf (additional) offering; the distinctive Yom Kippur rituals — the two goats, the scapegoat, the High Priest's entry into the Holy of Holies — are detailed in Leviticus 16, not here. The phrase temimim yihyu lakhem ('they shall be unblemished for you') is especially weighty on the day of ultimate purification.

Translator Notes

1. The standard grain proportions apply on Yom Kippur as elsewhere: sheloshah esronim laPar ('three-tenths for the bull') and shenei esronim la'ayil ha'echad ('two-tenths for the one ram'). The consistency underscores that even the most solemn day operates within the same sacrificial system.

Translator Notes

1. The distributive issaron issaron repeats the per-lamb allotment. On Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and self-denial, the grain offerings are presented to God while the people abstain — a powerful contrast between human deprivation and divine provision.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. This verse reveals multiple layers: the se'ir chatat here is the musaf purification offering, distinct from the chatat haKippurim ('the atonement purification offering') of Leviticus 16 — the goat whose blood the High Priest brings into the Holy of Holies. Yom Kippur thus has more purification offerings than any other day, befitting its role as the annual cleansing of the entire sanctuary system.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Sukkot ('Booths/Tabernacles') begins five days after Yom Kippur. The phrase vechagotem chag laYHVH shiv'at yamim ('you shall celebrate a festival to the LORD for seven days') uses the verb chagag, which implies pilgrimage and festive celebration with circular dancing. Sukkot is the most elaborate festival in terms of sacrificial requirements, with the bull count creating a distinctive descending pattern over the week.

Translator Notes

1. Day one of Sukkot features the most lavish offering in the entire Torah calendar: sheloshah asar parim ('thirteen bulls'), two rams, and arba'ah asar kevashim ('fourteen lambs'). The thirteen bulls begin a seven-day descending sequence (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 = 70 total bulls), which rabbinic tradition associates with the seventy nations of Genesis 10, suggesting Israel's offerings intercede for the entire world.

Translator Notes

1. The grain offering for day one alone requires thirty-nine tenths (3 × 13) for the parim and four tenths (2 × 2) for the eilim, plus fourteen tenths for the lambs (v. 15) — a total of fifty-seven tenths of an ephah. The phrase lisheloshah asar parim ('for the thirteen bulls') and lishenei ha'eilim ('for the two rams') specifies that each animal receives its individual grain portion.

Translator Notes

1. Fourteen lambs — double the usual seven — reflect Sukkot's amplified worship. Each of the arba'ah asar kevashim ('fourteen lambs') receives its own issaron of flour. The doubling of the lamb count (from seven at other festivals to fourteen at Sukkot) further distinguishes this festival's extraordinary scale.

Translator Notes

1. Despite Sukkot's dramatically increased ascending offerings, the purification offering remains se'ir echad ('one goat') — the same as every other festival. The chatat is a constant, not scaled to festival importance. The phrase millevad olat hatamid ('apart from the perpetual ascending offering') reiterates that even Sukkot's thirteen bulls do not replace the daily tamid lambs.

Translator Notes

1. Day two reduces by one bull: sheneim asar parim ('twelve bulls'). The rams remain shenayim ('two') and the lambs arba'ah asar ('fourteen') throughout all seven days — only the bull count decreases. This descending sequence (13→12→11→10→9→8→7) creates a liturgical countdown toward the culminating eighth-day assembly.

Translator Notes

1. The abbreviated formula uminchatam veniskehem ('their grain offerings and drink offerings') with bemisparim kamishpat ('according to their number, as prescribed') avoids repeating the detailed proportions from verses 3-4 and 14-15. This shorthand assumes the reader knows the ratios: 3:2:1 tenths of flour and ½:⅓:¼ hin of wine for bull:ram:lamb respectively.

Translator Notes

1. Day two's purification offering remains se'ir-izzim echad ('one male goat'), identical to day one. The consistent single goat amid the changing bull count suggests that communal purification operates on a different principle than the ascending offerings — one act of cleansing suffices regardless of the day's scale.

Translator Notes

1. Day three continues the descent: ashtei-asar parim ('eleven bulls'). The unusual numeral form ashtei-asar is an archaic variant of the more common ashtei-esreh ('eleven'). Rams and lambs remain constant at two and fourteen.

Translator Notes

1. The formulaic kamishpat ('according to the regulation') here on day three references the same proportional system. As the bull count decreases, the total flour and wine for day three is slightly less than day two — a gradual diminishing of material expenditure across the week.

Translator Notes

1. Day three's purification offering uses se'ir chatat echad ('one goat, purification offering') — the slightly shortened form omits izzim ('of the goats'). The term se'ir alone ('hairy one') sufficiently identifies the male goat. The daily tamid continues alongside.

Translator Notes

1. Day four reaches asarah parim ('ten bulls') — the midpoint of the descending sequence. At this point, the cumulative bull total through four days is forty-six (13+12+11+10). The symmetry of the pattern becomes increasingly visible as the count moves toward single digits.

Translator Notes

1. Day four omits the conjunctive vav ('and') at the start — minchatam rather than uminchatam — a minor stylistic variation. The proportional formula kamishpat ('as prescribed') remains unchanged. This day's grain offering for bulls alone totals thirty tenths (3 × 10).

Translator Notes

1. Day four's purification offering is identical to the other days: se'ir-izzim echad chatat ('one male goat as purification offering'). The full form with izzim ('of the goats') returns here after the shortened form in verse 22, alternating without semantic difference.

Translator Notes

1. Day five prescribes tish'ah parim ('nine bulls'). The cumulative total through five days is now fifty-five bulls (13+12+11+10+9). Some commentators note that each day's bull count corresponds to the days remaining in the full sequence plus the eighth day (day 1: 13 = 7+6; day 5: 9 = 7+2), though this pattern is debated.

Translator Notes

1. The refrain uminchatam veniskehem... bemisparim kamishpat ('their grain offerings and drink offerings... according to their number, as prescribed') anchors each day's account to the established ratios. The repetition creates a liturgical rhythm in the text itself, mirroring the daily rhythm of the festival.

Translator Notes

1. Day five's purification offering again uses the short form se'ir chatat echad ('one goat, purification offering'). Through five days, five goats have been offered for communal purification — one per day, constant and unwavering while the bulls diminish.

Translator Notes

1. Day six prescribes shemonah parim ('eight bulls'). The running total reaches sixty-three (13+12+11+10+9+8). The pattern's inevitability creates anticipation — each day draws closer to the final seven bulls on day seven, when the number of bulls will match the number of days.

Translator Notes

1. Day six's grain and drink offering formula is identical in wording to the other days. The repetitive structure through verses 17-34 is intentional in the Torah — the reader (or listener during public reading) experiences the cumulative weight of each day's dedication.

Translator Notes

1. A small textual note: this verse ends with unesakheiha ('and its drink offerings') using a feminine plural suffix rather than the masculine forms in other days. This may reflect the feminine grammatical gender of olah ('ascending offering') influencing the pronominal reference. The sixth goat joins the steady procession of daily purification.

Translator Notes

1. Day seven completes the descent: shiv'ah parim ('seven bulls') — the sacred number that pervades Israel's calendar. The grand total for the seven days is seventy bulls (13+12+11+10+9+8+7 = 70), fourteen rams (2 × 7), and ninety-eight lambs (14 × 7). Seventy is the number of the nations in Genesis 10, suggesting a cosmic scope to Sukkot's worship.

Translator Notes

1. The final day's formula uses kemishpatam ('according to their regulations') with a third-person plural suffix, slightly varying from the usual kamishpat. This minor grammatical shift may reflect the specific reference to each animal category having its own prescribed ratio, summarizing the entire proportional system one last time.

Translator Notes

1. Day seven's purification goat brings the Sukkot total to seven goats — matching the seven days and the seven bulls of this final day. The total Sukkot animal count (excluding the tamid) is 70 bulls + 14 rams + 98 lambs + 7 goats = 189 animals, the most elaborate sacrificial week in the Torah.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The atzeret ('closing assembly, solemn gathering') on the eighth day is distinct from the seven days of Sukkot proper. The term atzeret derives from atsar ('to restrain, hold back, close'), suggesting a concluding ceremony that 'restrains' the people for one final day of sacred gathering. Later tradition calls this Shemini Atzeret ('Eighth Day of Assembly'), treating it as a separate festival.

Translator Notes

1. The eighth day's offerings plummet from day seven's seventeen animals to just nine: par echad ('one bull'), ayil echad ('one ram'), shiv'ah kevashim ('seven lambs'). This dramatic reduction — matching the Trumpets/Yom Kippur scale — creates an intimate conclusion after the week's crescendo. Rabbinic tradition likens it to a king who dismisses his many guests but asks his closest friend to linger one more day.

Translator Notes

1. The singular laPar ('for the bull') and la'ayil ('for the ram') — without plural markers — reflects the reduced eighth-day quantities. The formula kamishpat ('as prescribed') applies the same proportional system: three-tenths for the single bull, two-tenths for the single ram, one-tenth each for the seven lambs.

Translator Notes

1. The eighth day's purification offering is the final goat in the fall festival sequence: one each on Trumpets, Yom Kippur (musaf), and eight days of Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret = ten total goats across the autumn season. The daily tamid continues beneath all festival layers, a constant heartbeat of Israelite worship.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The concluding verse distinguishes obligatory festival offerings from voluntary ones. The phrase levad minidreikhem venidvoteikhem ('apart from your vows and freewill offerings') establishes that the extensive calendar just prescribed is the minimum — individuals may bring additional nedarim ('vow offerings') and nedavot ('voluntary/freewill offerings'). The shalmim ('fellowship/peace offerings') appear here for the first time in chapters 28-29, reminding readers that communal celebration meals accompany the festivals.