Numbers 28:31

Summary

Numbers 28:31 closes the instructions for the festival offerings by specifying that these sacrifices are to be made in addition to the regular daily burnt offering and its grain offering. The animals offered must be unblemished, and they are to be accompanied by their corresponding drink offerings.

Key words

• mi.Vad ("besides", H9006+H0905J) — a compound preposition-plus-noun construction meaning "apart from" or "in addition to," marking that what follows is supplementary to something already established (the daily offering).
• 'o.Lat ("[the] burnt offering of", H5930A) — feminine singular construct form, linking this noun to ha.Tamid, forming the phrase "burnt offering of continuity" (i.e., the regular daily burnt offering).
• ta.Mid ("continuity", H8548) — a masculine singular noun with the definite article, denoting perpetual or ongoing regularity; it describes the standing daily offering as distinct from the festival-specific ones.
• ta.'a.Su ("you will offer [them]", H6213I) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, indicating a communal, repeated or future obligation directed at the addressees (the people/priests).
• te.mi.Mim ("unblemished", H8549G) — masculine plural adjective, describing the required physical condition of the animals: without defect.

What the text says

The verse begins with the compound expression mi.Vad ("besides," H9006 + H0905J), which sets up a relationship of addition: what is about to be commanded is supplementary to something already fixed. That fixed reference is 'o.Lat ha.Tamid ("burnt offering of continuity," H5930A + H8548), the standing daily burnt offering, followed by min.cha.To ("its grain offering," H4503G + H9023), its accompanying grain offering marked by a third-person masculine singular suffix referring back to the daily offering.

The verb ta.'a.Su ("you will offer," H6213I) is a second-person masculine plural qal imperfect, addressing the community as the ones responsible for carrying out this offering. The clause te.mi.Mim yih.yu-lachem ("unblemished they will be for you") uses the adjective te.mi.Mim (H8549G) in plural agreement, followed by the qal imperfect verb yih.yu ("they will be," H1961), stating a required condition for the animals rather than describing a present fact. Finally, nis.kei.hem ("their drink offerings," H5262) closes the verse with a plural construct noun bearing a third-person masculine plural suffix, tying the liquid offerings back to the animals just mentioned.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Immaculata offeretis omnia cum libationibus suis) omits explicit reference to the daily burnt offering and grain offering found in the Hebrew's opening mi.Vad clause, presenting only the unblemished requirement and drink offerings. The LXX (Swete) retains the reference to the continual holocaust (τοῦ διὰ παντός) and its sacrifice, structurally closer to the Hebrew's ha.Tamid clause, though it renders min.cha.To ("its grain offering") as τὴν θυσίαν αὐτῶν ("their sacrifice"), a broader term than the specific grain offering in the Hebrew.