Numbers 28:2

Summary

Numbers 28:2 opens a divine instruction to Moses, commanding him to relay to the Israelites Yehovah's requirement that offerings be brought at their appointed times. The verse establishes both the content (food offerings by fire, a soothing odor) and the obligation of careful observance regarding timing.

Key words

• tzav ("command", H6680) — piel imperative, giving the verse its directive force from the outset; an intensified command form addressed to Moses (you, masculine singular).
• korbani ("my offering", H7133A) — masculine singular construct with the 1st person suffix -i ("my"), marking the offering as belonging to/directed toward Yehovah.
• nichochi ("my soothing [odor]", H5207) — construct form with 1st person suffix, part of the phrase describing the effect of the offering as pleasing to Yehovah.
• tishmeru ("you will take care/keep", H8104J) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, expressing an ongoing or repeated obligation laid upon the people collectively.
• hakriv ("to bring near", H7126H) — hiphil infinitive, a causative form indicating the act of causing something to approach/be presented, here referring to the offering being brought.

What the text says

The verse divides into two directives. The first, tzav et-bene Yisra'el ve'amarta 'alehem ("command the sons of Israel and you will say to them"), uses the piel imperative tzav followed by a sequential perfect 'amarta, a common Hebrew construction where an imperative is followed by a perfect verb continuing the same command sequence — Moses is to command and then to speak.

The content of the speech is introduced by a chain of construct nouns all bearing the 1st person suffix -i ("my"): korbani ("my offering"), lachmi ("my food"), 'ishai ("my fire offerings"), and reach nichochi ("odor of my soothing"). This construct chain piles up descriptive terms for the same offering material before the main verb appears, a feature of Hebrew syntax that places the object phrase ahead of the verb tishmeru for emphasis. The verb tishmeru itself, from the root meaning "to keep/watch/take care," governs the following infinitive hakriv ("to bring near/present"), so the people are told to "keep/take care to bring near" the offerings — the qal imperfect tishmeru expresses a continuing responsibility rather than a single act. The final phrase bemo'ado ("at its appointed time") specifies that this care concerns timing.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew bene Yisra'el ("sons of Israel") simply as τοῖς υἱοῖς ("to the sons"), omitting "Israel" explicitly in the Greek text given. The LXX also pluralizes the appointed time as ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς μου ("in my feasts"), where the Hebrew bemo'ado is singular ("at its appointed time," with the 3rd person suffix referring back to the offering). The Vulgate's per tempora sua ("through its times") also uses a plural, differing from the Hebrew singular construct form.