Numbers 29:27

Summary

The verse specifies the accompanying grain offerings and drink offerings that go with the bulls, rams, and lambs of the sacrificial list, stipulating that their amounts follow the established number and ordinance.

Key words

• minchatam ("grain offering", H4503G) — feminine singular construct noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix ("their"), meaning "their grain offering"; construct form links it to the animals named later in the verse.
• niskeihem ("drink offerings", H5262) — masculine plural construct noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, "their drink offerings"; plural marks multiple libations corresponding to multiple animals.
• pharim ("young bulls", H6499) — masculine plural noun with prefixed preposition-article la ("for the"), indicating the recipients/occasions for which the offerings are designated.
• mispharam ("their number", H4557) — masculine singular construct noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, "the number of them," governing the phrase bemispharam ("according to their number").
• hamishpat ("the ordinance", H4941I) — masculine singular noun with prefixed preposition-article ka ("according to the"), forming kamishpat, "according to the ordinance," pointing to a fixed rule governing the offerings.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a list of accompanying offerings attached to the animals mentioned: u-minchatam ve-niskeihem ("and their grain offering and their drink offerings") stands as the subject, followed by three prepositional phrases marking the animals to which these offerings belong: la-pharim ("for the bulls"), la-eilim ("for the rams"), ve-la-kevasim ("and for the lambs"). Each animal noun is masculine plural, and each is introduced by the preposition la ("for the") with the definite article, a repeated pattern that ties the singular collective offerings (minchatam, niskeihem) distributively to each category of animal.

The final two phrases, be-mispharam ("according to their number") and ka-mishpat ("according to the ordinance"), function adverbially, modifying how the offerings are to be brought — both in quantity (mispharam) and in conformity to an established procedure (mishpat). The construct chains (minchatam, niskeihem, mispharam) all carry the 3rd masculine plural suffix "their," which in Hebrew ties the offerings and their proportion back to the animals just listed without needing a separate possessive phrase, a compactness not directly visible in translations that must spell out "for the bulls, rams, and lambs" as separate referents.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mishpat ("ordinance", H4941I) as σύνκρισιν (comparison/proportion), a different semantic emphasis from the Hebrew's more general "ordinance" or "rule." The Vulgate uses "rite celebrabitis" ("you shall celebrate according to the rite"), which shifts the verse from a descriptive list of required quantities into an imperative instruction, an emphasis not explicit in the Hebrew's nominal construction.