Numbers 29:28

Summary

The verse specifies an additional offering: one male goat as a sin offering, presented separately from the continual burnt offering, which itself has its own accompanying grain offering and drink offering.

Key words

• se'ir ("a male goat of", H8163B) — construct form linking the animal to its sacrificial category (sin offering).
• chatat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun naming the purpose of the goat offering.
• mi-le-vad ("besides", from H9006/H9005/H0905J) — compound preposition phrase built from "from" + "to" + "apart," expressing separation ("apart from," "in addition to").
• 'olat ("[the] burnt offering of", H5930A) — construct form connecting the burnt offering to ha-tamid ("the continuity", H8548), together meaning "the continual burnt offering."
• nis-ka-h ("its drink offering", H5262 + H9024) — construct noun with 3rd person feminine singular suffix, referring back to the burnt offering as the antecedent.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure builds a chain of construct relationships. The core clause names se'ir chatat 'echad ("one male goat of a sin offering"), where se'ir stands in construct to chatat, and 'echad ("one", H0259) numerically qualifies the whole unit. This goat offering is then set apart from another offering by the compound preposition mi-le-vad ("besides"), a phrase combining min ("from") and le-vad ("to apart/separation") to mark exclusion or addition relative to what follows.

What follows is 'olat ha-tamid ("the burnt offering of the continuity"), itself a construct chain where tamid functions almost adverbially to describe the burnt offering as ongoing or regular. The final two nouns, minchatah ("its grain offering") and niskah ("its drink offering"), both carry the 3rd person feminine singular suffix -ah (H9024), grammatically pointing back to 'olat ("burnt offering"), a feminine noun. This suffix chain shows that the grain and drink offerings are grammatically bound to the continual burnt offering, not to the sin offering mentioned earlier in the verse — a nuance visible only through the Hebrew's use of gendered pronominal suffixes.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders se'ir chatat as χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν ... περὶ ἁμαρτίας ("a young goat from the goats ... for sin"), specifying the animal type differently than the Hebrew's more general se'ir ("goat"). The LXX also pluralizes the final offerings as αἱ θυσίαι αὐτῶν καὶ αἱ σπονδαὶ αὐτῶν ("their sacrifices and their libations"), using plural pronouns where the Hebrew has singular feminine suffixes referring specifically to the burnt offering. The Vulgate's sacrificioque ejus et libamine ("and its sacrifice and libation") uses singular forms closer to the Hebrew structure, though sacrificio ("sacrifice") is a broader term than the Hebrew minchah ("grain offering").