Numbers 28:3

Summary

Numbers 28:3 instructs that a specific 'isheh ("fire offering", H0801) be presented to Yehovah: two unblemished yearling lambs, offered daily as a continual burnt offering. The verse is framed as direct speech that Moses is told to convey to the people.

Key words

• 'a.mar.Ta ("you will say", H0559) — qal sequential perfect, second person masculine singular; continues a chain of instructions, marking this as reported speech to be delivered.
• 'i.Sheh ("fire offering", H0801) — masculine singular noun with definite article (ha, H9009) attached, identifying a specific category of offering consumed by fire.
• tak.Ri.vu ("you will bring near", H7126H) — hiphil imperfect, second person masculine plural; the causative stem indicates the offerers actively cause the offering to approach the altar/Yehovah, and the imperfect aspect points to ongoing or repeated action.
• te.mi.Mim ("unblemished", H8549G) — masculine plural adjective agreeing with ke.va.Sim ("lambs", H3532), describing physical wholeness/lack of defect in the animals.
• ta.Mid ("continually", H8548) — masculine singular noun functioning adverbially, modifying 'o.Lah ("a burnt offering", H5930A) to indicate the offering's perpetual, recurring nature.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav (H9001) attached to 'a.mar.Ta, linking this instruction to the preceding divine speech and marking a shift into direct address: "and you will say to them." The demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088) introduces a definition — what follows identifies the content of the 'isheh. The relative clause 'a.Sher tak.Ri.vu la.Yehovah ("which you will bring near to Yehovah") uses the hiphil imperfect verb tak.Ri.vu, plural, addressing the community as the ones responsible for presenting the offering.

The specification of the offering follows in apposition: ke.va.Sim be.nei-sha.Nah te.mi.Mim she.Na.yim — "lambs, sons of a year, unblemished, two." The construct phrase be.nei sha.Nah ("sons of a year", H1121L + H8141) is an idiomatic way of expressing age, meaning yearling animals, rather than literally "sons." The adjective te.mi.Mim agrees in gender and number with ke.va.Sim, confirming the lambs must be physically without blemish. The cardinal number she.Na.yim ("two", H8147) is dual, specifying the exact quantity.

The final clause, la.Yom 'o.Lah ta.Mid, ties the offering to daily recurrence (la.Yom, "for the day") and identifies it as an 'o.Lah ("burnt offering", H5930A) characterized as ta.Mid ("continually", H8548) — a noun used adverbially to denote the offering's perpetual, repeated schedule rather than a one-time event.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'isheh as καρπώματα ("fruits/offerings"), a broader term than the Hebrew's specific "fire offering." The Vulgate uses sacrificia ("sacrifices"), also more general. Where the Hebrew states tak.Ri.vu ("you will bring near," plural), the Vulgate's offerre debetis ("you must offer") introduces an explicit sense of obligation not morphologically present in the Hebrew imperfect verb form itself.