Numbers 29:31

Summary

The verse specifies an additional offering within the festival sacrificial list: one male goat as a chatat ("sin offering") is to be presented apart from the continual burnt offering, together with its accompanying grain offering and drink offerings.

Key words

• se'ir ("a male goat of", H8163B) — masculine singular construct noun, linking the animal directly to the following term "sin offering" as a construct chain.
• chattat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun specifying the ritual category/purpose of the goat offering.
• 'echad ("one", H0259) — cardinal number in feminine singular agreement, quantifying the offering as a single animal.
• millevad (from H9006 mi + H9005 le + H0905J bad) — compound preposition "besides/apart from," marking that this offering is additional to, not a replacement for, what follows.
• tamid ("continuity", H8548) — masculine singular noun modifying "burnt offering" ('olat, H5930A) as "the continual/regular" one, describing its perpetual, ongoing nature.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of construct relationships rather than full independent clauses. It opens with u-se'ir chattat 'echad ("and one male goat of a sin offering"), where se'ir stands in construct to chattat, producing a phrase best understood as "a male goat [designated] for a sin offering." The numeral 'echad ("one") agrees grammatically in gender with se'irah and confirms a single animal is meant.

The compound preposition milevad ("from beside" or "besides") then introduces the qualifying clause: this goat offering stands apart from the 'olat ha-tamid ("burnt offering of the continuity/regularity"), i.e., the offering that occurs on a fixed recurring basis. The construct chain 'olat ha-tamid treats "continuity" as a noun modifying "burnt offering," describing its perpetual character rather than naming a specific event.

The verse closes by attaching two further items via possessive suffixes: minchatah ("its grain offering") and u-nesakheiha ("and its drink offerings"), both suffixed with the feminine singular pronoun "her/its," referring back to the 'olat ha-tamid. Grammatically, this indicates that the grain offering and drink offerings belong to the continual burnt offering, not to the goat sin offering mentioned first — the goat is presented as an addition standing outside that accompanied unit.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders se'ir ("male goat") as χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν ("a young goat from the goats"), an expanded phrase not literally present in the Hebrew construct noun alone. The Vulgate's hircum ("male goat") corresponds more directly to the Hebrew term. The LXX also shifts the closing possessive phrases into plural ("their sacrifices... their libations," αἱ θυσίαι αὐτῶν, αἱ σπονδαὶ αὐτῶν), differing from the Hebrew's feminine singular suffixes (-ah) that anchor the grain and drink offerings singularly to the tamid offering.