Numbers 29:13

וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם עֹלָה אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַֽיהוָה פָּרִים בְּנֵי־בָקָר שְׁלֹשָׁה עָשָׂר אֵילִם שְׁנָיִם כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵֽי־שָׁנָה אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר תְּמִימִם יִהְיֽוּ׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

Tap a word to see its entry

✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֨ם עֹלָ֜ה אִשֵּׁ֨ה רֵ֤יחַ נִיחֹ֙חַ֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה פָּרִ֧ים בְּנֵי־בָקָ֛ר שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר אֵילִ֣ם שְׁנָ֑יִם כְּבָשִׂ֧ים בְּנֵֽי־שָׁנָ֛ה אַרְבָּעָ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר תְּמִימִ֥ם יִהְיֽוּ׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ προσάξετε ὁλοκαυτώματα καρπώματα εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας κυρίου, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ πρώτῃ μόσχους ἐκ βοῶν τρεῖς κα δέκα, κριοὺς δύο, ἀμνοὺς ἐνιαυσίους ἰδ’, ἄμωμοι ἔσονται·

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Offeretisque holocaustum in odorem suavissimum Domino, vitulos de armento tredecim, arietes duos, agnos anniculos immaculatos quatuordecim:

Spanish

Ofrecerán a Yehová un holocausto, una ofrenda por fuego de aroma agradable: trece toros jóvenes, dos carneros y catorce corderos de un año, todos sin ningún defecto;

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y ofreceréis en holocausto, en ofrenda encendida á Jehová en olor de suavidad, trece becerros de la vacada, dos carneros, catorce corderos de un año: han de ser sin defecto;

English

As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,

✦ What the text says

Summary

Numbers 29:13 instructs the community to bring a burnt offering consisting of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen year-old lambs, all without blemish, described as a fire offering producing a soothing odor for Yehovah. The verse belongs to the sequence of festival sacrifice instructions and specifies exact quantities and the qualitative condition (unblemished) required of the animals.

Key words

hikravTem ("you will bring near", H7126H) — hiphil causative, sequential perfect, second person masculine plural: the community itself performs the causative action of "bringing near" the offering, continuing the narrative sequence of instructions.
'oLah ("a burnt offering", H5930A) — feminine singular noun naming the sacrificial category being commanded.
'iSheh reiach niChoach ("a fire offering... odor... soothing", H0801/H7381/H5207) — three nouns in construct chain, the first two in construct state ("X of Y"), together describing the offering's effect as a pleasing aroma directed la-Yehovah ("to Yehovah", H9005+H3068G).
temiMim ("unblemished", H8549G) — masculine plural adjective modifying all the previously listed animals collectively, stating their required physical condition.
yihYu ("they will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, closing the verse with a stative/future verb confirming the condition applies to all animals named.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav on ve-hikravTem, linking this instruction to the preceding chain of festival regulations. The verb form is sequential perfect, continuing a series of commands rather than introducing a new independent clause. The direct object 'oLah ("burnt offering") is immediately qualified by the construct chain 'iSheh reiach niChoach — three nouns stacked in construct relationships, meaning literally "a fire-offering of an odor of soothing," a common formulaic phrase in Numbers/Leviticus describing sacrificial smoke.

The animals are listed with numbers following nouns, a normal Biblical Hebrew word order: pariM ("bulls") followed by shelo.Shah 'a.Sar ("thirteen"), 'eiLim ("rams") followed by she.Na.yim ("two"), and ke.va.Sim ("lambs") followed by 'ar.ba.'Ah 'a.Sar ("fourteen"). The bulls and lambs are further specified by construct phrases: beNei-vaKar ("young ones of cattle") and beNei-shaNah ("sons of a year," i.e., yearlings). The final adjective temiMim ("unblemished") is masculine plural, syntactically able to cover all three animal groups listed before it, and the closing verb yihYu ("they will be") is likewise plural, confirming this shared condition applies collectively rather than to a single group.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'iSheh ("fire offering") with two separate terms, ὁλοκαυτώματα ("whole burnt offerings") and καρπώματα ("offerings," related to "fruit/produce"), where the Hebrew uses a single construct chain built on 'oLah and 'iSheh. The Vulgate condenses the Hebrew's threefold description ('iSheh reiach niChoach) into the phrase "odorem suavissimum," omitting a separate word corresponding to 'iSheh as a distinct sacrificial category term.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.