Exodus 29:38-42

29:38 “Now this is what you are to prepare ¹  on the altar every day continually: two lambs a year old. 29:39 The first lamb you are to prepare in the morning, and the second lamb you are to prepare around sundown. ²  29:40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah ³  of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin ⁴  of oil from pressed olives, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 29:41 The second lamb you are to offer around sundown; you are to prepare for it the same meal offering as for the morning and the same drink offering, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

29:42 “This will be a regular ⁵  burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet ⁶  with you to speak to you there.

Numbers 28:3-4

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 ⁷  burnt offering. 28:4 The first lamb you must offer in the morning, and the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon, ⁸ 

Numbers 28:9-11

Weekly Offerings

28:9 “‘On the Sabbath day, you must offer ⁹  two unblemished lambs a year old, and two-tenths of an ephah ¹⁰  of finely ground flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, along with its drink offering. 28:10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, ¹¹  besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.

Monthly Offerings

28:11 “‘On the first day of each month ¹²  you must offer as a burnt offering to the Lord two young bulls, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs a year old,

[29:38]  ¹ tn The verb is “you will do,” “you will make.” It clearly refers to offering the animals on the altar, but may emphasize all the preparation that was involved in the process.

[29:39]  ² tn Heb “between the two evenings” or “between the two settings” (בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם, ben ha’arbayim). This expression has had a good deal of discussion. (1) Tg. Onq. says “between the two suns,” which the Talmud explains as the time between the sunset and the time the stars become visible. More technically, the first “evening” would be the time between sunset and the appearance of the crescent moon, and the second “evening” the next hour, or from the appearance of the crescent moon to full darkness (see Deut 16:6 – “at the going down of the sun”). (2) Saadia, Rashi, and Kimchi say the first evening is when the sun begins to decline in the west and cast its shadows, and the second evening is the beginning of night. (3) The view adopted by the Pharisees and the Talmudists (b. Pesahim 61a) is that the first evening is when the heat of the sun begins to decrease, and the second evening begins at sunset, or, roughly from 3-5 p.m. The Mishnah (m. Pesahim 5:1) indicates the lamb was killed about 2:30 p.m. – anything before noon was not valid. S. R. Driver concludes from this survey that the first view is probably the best, although the last view was the traditionally accepted one (Exodus, 89-90). Late afternoon or early evening seems to be intended, the time of twilight perhaps.

[29:40]  ³ tn The phrase “of an ephah” has been supplied for clarity (cf. Num 28:5). The ephah was a commonly used dry measure whose capacity is now uncertain: “Quotations given for the ephah vary from ca. 45 to 20 liters” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 2:340-41).

[29:40]  ⁴ tn “Hin” is a transliterated Hebrew word that seems to have an Egyptian derivation. The amount of liquid measured by a hin is uncertain: “Its presumed capacity varies from about 3,5 liters to 7,5 liters” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:550).

[29:42]  ⁵ tn The translation has “regular” instead of “continually,” because they will be preparing this twice a day.

[29:42]  ⁶ tn The relative clause identifies the place in front of the Tent as the place that Yahweh would meet Moses. The main verb of the clause is אִוָּעֵד (’ivva’ed), a Niphal imperfect of the verb יָעַד (ya’ad), the verb that is cognate to the name “tent of meeting” – hence the name. This clause leads into the next four verses.

[28:3]  ⁷ 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.

[28:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “between the evenings” meaning between dusk and dark.

[28:9]  ⁹ tn The words “you must offer” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. They have been supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.

[28:9]  ¹⁰ sn That is, about 4 quarts.

[28:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the burnt offering of the Sabbath by its Sabbath.”

[28:11]  ¹² tn Heb “of your months.”