Text -- Numbers 28:1-8 (NET)

Daily Offerings

28:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 28:2 “Command the Israelites: ‘With regard to my offering, be sure to offer my food for my offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to me at its appointed time.’ 28:3 You will say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you must offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs one year old each day for a continual burnt offering. 28:4 The first lamb you must offer in the morning, and the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon, 28:5 with one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour as a grain offering mixed with one quarter of a hin of pressed olive oil. 28:6 It is a continual burnt offering that was instituted on Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28:7 “‘And its drink offering must be one quarter of a hin for each lamb. You must pour out the strong drink as a drink offering to the Lord in the holy place. 28:8 And the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon; just as you offered the grain offering and drink offering in the morning, you must offer it as an offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Num 28:1

¹ sn For additional reading on these chapters, see G. B. Gray, Sacrifice in the Old Testament; A. F. Rainey, “The Order of Sacrifices in the Old Testament Ritual Texts,” Bib 51 (1970): 485-98; N. H. Snaith, The Jewish New Year Festival.

NET Notes: Num 28:2

¹ tn Heb “and say to them.” These words have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Th sentence begins with the accusative “my offering.” It is suspended at the beginning as an independent accusative to itemize the subject matter. The second accusative is the formal object of the verb. It could also be taken in apposition to the first accusative.

³ tn The construction uses the imperfect tense expressing instruction, followed by the infinitive construct used to express the complement of direct object.

⁴ sn See L. R. Fisher, “New Ritual Calendar from Ugarit,” HTR 63 (1970): 485-501.

NET Notes: Num 28:3

¹ sn The sacrifice was to be kept burning, but each morning the priests would have to clean the grill and put a new offering on the altar. So the idea of a continual burnt offering is more that of a regular offering.

NET Notes: Num 28:4

¹ tn Heb “between the evenings” meaning between dusk and dark.

NET Notes: Num 28:5

¹ sn That is about two quarts.

² sn That is about one quart.

NET Notes: Num 28:7

¹ tn Heb “the one lamb,” but it is meant to indicate for “each lamb.”

² tn The word שֵׁכָר (shekhar) is often translated “strong drink.” It can mean “barley beer” in the Akkadian cognate, and also in the Hebrew Bible when joined with the word for wine. English versions here read “wine” (NAB, TEV, CEV); “strong wine” (KJV); “fermented drink” (NIV, NLT); “strong drink” (ASV, NASB, NRSV).

NET Notes: Num 28:8

¹ tn Heb “as the grain offering of the morning and as its drink offering.”