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The Day of Atonement
Numbers 29:7–11 — The Day of Atonement. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
7On the tenth day of this seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and you shall humble yourselves; you must not do any work.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·ḇe·‘ā·śō·wr haz·zeh haš·šə·ḇî·‘î la·ḥō·ḏeš yih·yeh lā·ḵem qō·ḏeš miq·rā- wə·‘in·nî·ṯem ’eṯ- nap̄·šō·ṯê·ḵem lō ṯa·‘ă·śū kāl- mə·lā·ḵāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And on the tenth of this seventh, to the month, it shall be to you a holiness, a calling-out; and you shall afflict your souls — you shall not do any work.
Where the English smooths the original
And ye shall afflict your souls.— See Leviticus 16:29 . This affliction or humiliation appears to have included in it fasting (comp. Acts 27:9 ), although the word which denotes fasting is not employed, nor is there any express injunction respecting fasting in the Pentateuch.
Your souls, i.e. yourselves, by fasting and abstinence from all delightful things, and by compunction and bitter sorrow for your sins, and the judgments of God either deserved by you, or inflicted upon you for your sins.
ye shall afflict your souls ] An expression which denoted fasting ; cf. Numbers 30:13 , Psalm 35:13 , Isaiah 58:3 ; Isaiah 58:5 . Here it is the great annual fast, still strictly observed by orthodox Jews, on the Day of Atonement
Afflict your souls — Yourselves, by abstinence from all delightful things, and by compunction for your sins, and the judgments of God, either deserved by you, or inflicted upon you.Benson and Poole share an inherited gloss-tradition here, almost word-for-word; the convergence is itself evidence of how fixed the 'affliction = fasting + repentance' reading had become.
8Present as a pleasing aroma to the LORD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hiq·raḇ·tem nî·ḥō·aḥ rê·aḥ Yah·weh ‘ō·lāh ’e·ḥāḏ ben- bā·qār par ’e·ḥāḏ ’a·yil šiḇ·‘āh kə·ḇā·śîm bə·nê- šā·nāh yih·yū tə·mî·mim lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And you shall bring near a restful aroma to the LORD: a burnt offering — one bull, son of the herd, one ram, seven lambs, sons of a year; unblemished they shall be for you.
Where the English smooths the original
On the day of atonement, on the tenth of the seventh month, a similar festal sacrifice was to be offered to the one presented on the seventh new moon's day (a burnt-offering and sin-offering), in addition to the sin-offering of atonement prescribed at Leviticus 16 , and the daily burnt-offerings.
But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord,.... Which is the same as ordered to be offered on the first day, Numbers 29:2 . Aben Ezra is of opinion that the ram here is different from those in Leviticus 16:3 .
additional offerings seem to be noticed, namely, the large animal sacrifice for a general expiation, which was a sweet savor unto the Lord, and the sin offering to atone for the sins that mingled with that day's services.JFB distinguishes the two functions layered on this day: the burnt offering as a general 'sweet savor' of acceptance, and the sin offering targeting the sins that 'mingled with' even the day's own worship.
But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD for a sweet savor; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish
9together with their grain offerings of fine flour mixed with oil—three-tenths of an ephah with the bull, two-tenths of an ephah with the ram,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·min·ḥā·ṯām sō·leṯ bə·lū·lāh ḇaš·šā·men šə·lō·šāh ‘eś·rō·nîm lap·pār šə·nê ‘eś·rō·nîm lā·’a·yil hā·’e·ḥāḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the one ram,
Where the English smooths the original
And their meat offering,.... Which was of the same quantity of flour and oil, for a bullock, a ram, and a lamb, as for the meat offering on the first day of the month."meat offering" is the KJV-era English for the grain (minchâh) offering.
And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram
Those who would know the mind of God in the Scriptures, must compare one part with another. The latter discoveries of Divine light explain what was dark, and supply what was wanting, in the former, that the man of God may be perfect.Henry's note covers the whole pericope (29:1-11).
10and a tenth of an ephah with each of the seven lambs.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
‘iś·śā·rō·wn ‘iś·śā·rō·wn hā·’e·ḥāḏ lə·šiḇ·‘aṯ hak·kə·ḇā·śîm lak·ke·ḇeś
Literal — word-for-word from the original
a tenth, a tenth for the one, for the seven lambs — for the lamb;
Where the English smooths the original
A several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs"a several tenth deal" = a separate tenth-measure apiece, catching the Hebrew distributive.
And their meat offering,.... Which was of the same quantity of flour and oil, for a bullock, a ram, and a lamb, as for the meat offering on the first day of the month.
The offering on the great Day of Atonement was the same with that just specified.
11Include one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offerings.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’e·ḥāḏ śə·‘îr- ‘iz·zîm ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ mil·lə·ḇaḏ ḥaṭ·ṭaṯ hak·kip·pu·rîm hat·tā·mîḏ wə·‘ō·laṯ ū·min·ḥā·ṯāh wə·nis·kê·hem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
one shaggy one of the goats for a sin offering, apart from the sin offering of the atonements and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering and their drink offerings.
Where the English smooths the original
beside the sin offering of atonement ] An incidental reference to the solemn ceremony which gave its name to the day. It is described in Leviticus 16, on which Hebrews 9:7-12 ; Hebrews 9:23-28 is based.
The sin-offering of atonement, by which the high priest made atonement; of which see Leviticus 16:9 ,29,30 .
the goat, which was offered without, though of the Musaphim, or additions, could not go before the service of the day for it is said as follows: beside the sin offering of atonement; hence, say they, we learn, that the goat within, which was of the service of the day, went before itGill summarizes the rabbinic ordering (Mishnah Yoma 7.3): the day's own goat preceded this added goat.
That is, offered every morning and evening.Geneva's gloss (e) on "the continual burnt offering."
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens not with a sacrifice but with a summons: be-ʻāśōwr (H6218), "on the tenth," a noun so rare it surfaces in only sixteen verses of Scripture, nearly all of them fixing the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29; 23:27; 25:9). The day is qōḏeš miqrā-, "a holiness, a calling-out" — the Geneva Study Bible (1599) names it plainly "the feast of reconciliation." Its one human command is wə-ʻinnîṯem ʼeṯ-napšōṯêḵem (H6031 + H5315), "you shall afflict your souls." Ellicott (1878) carefully notes that "the word which denotes fasting is not employed, nor is there any express injunction respecting fasting in the Pentateuch," yet the idiom was read as fasting by all: the Cambridge Bible (1880s) calls it "the great annual fast, still strictly observed by orthodox Jews, on the Day of Atonement," and Acts 27:9 simply calls the day "the Fast." Poole (1685) widens it from belly to heart: affliction "by fasting and abstinence from all delightful things, and by compunction and bitter sorrow for your sins."
What Israel brings near — the Hiphil wə-hiqraḇtem (H7126), the verb of approach — is a rêaḥ nîḥōaḥ (H7381 + H5207), an "aroma of restfulness" to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven lambs, all təmîmim (H8549), "whole/without defect." Keil & Delitzsch (1860s) observe this is "a similar festal sacrifice... to the one presented on the seventh new moon's day," and Gill (1746–63) confirms the burnt offering is "the same as ordered to be offered on the first day, Numbers 29:2." The grain gift descends by victim — three tenths, two tenths, one tenth — its fine flour bəlûlāh (H1101) "mingled" with oil, the Geneva note catching the Hebrew distributive in "A several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs." Matthew Henry (1706), reading the whole pericope, draws the working principle: "Those who would know the mind of God in the Scriptures, must compare one part with another. The latter discoveries of Divine light explain what was dark... in the former."
The unit closes by gesturing back to the great rite it never describes. One śəʻîr-ʻizzîm (H8163 + H5795), a "shaggy one of the goats," is offered as ḥaṭṭāṯ (H2403) — "sin" and "sin-offering" in one word — but expressly mil-ləḇaḏ (H905), "apart from," the sin offering of hak-kippurîm (H3725), "the atonements." Poole (1685) identifies this as "the sin-offering of atonement, by which the high priest made atonement." Gill (1746–63), citing the Mishnah (Yoma 7.3), preserves the ordering: "the goat within, which was of the service of the day, went before it." Cambridge (1880s) reads the verse as the hinge of the whole canon at this point: "an incidental reference to the solemn ceremony which gave its name to the day. It is described in Leviticus 16, on which Hebrews 9:7-12; Hebrews 9:23-28 is based." Even here the hat-tāmîḏ (H8548), "continual" offering, is not suspended — Geneva glosses it "offered every morning and evening." The holiest day is built over the unbroken daily worship, not in place of it.
Reading these five verses under Sola Scriptura, with no authority above the text itself, one thing presses: this is a chapter of addition. The added goat is offered mil-ləḇaḏ — "apart from," "besides" — the atonement sin offering; the festal offerings come in addition to the continual offering that is never suspended. Atonement is never made to stand alone or to cancel the daily approach; it is layered into an unbroken rhythm of nearness. And the day's one human act is not a work but a not-working: wə-ʻinnîṯem, to afflict the soul and to cease from labor (the text guards this twice — "you must not do any work"). My fallible reading is that the Day of Atonement preaches a grammar later made explicit: the worshipper contributes affliction and rest — emptiness, not achievement — while God supplies the whole unblemished victim that ascends as a restful aroma. The bull, ram, and lambs are təmîmim; the people are afflicted. This is a structural anticipation, not a proof; the text states the ritual and leaves the theology to be argued from elsewhere in the canon, which is exactly what Hebrews 9 will do.
On the day God forgives, the only thing Israel is told to do is to stop, and to be emptied.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Numbers 29:7 and Leviticus 23:27 share the rare ordinal ʻâsôwr (H6218, "the tenth," in only 16 verses), together with miqrâʼ (H4744, "convocation"), the affliction-verb ʻânâh (H6031), and shᵉbîyʻîy (H7637, "seventh"). Leviticus 23:27 is the parallel ordinance: "the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement... you shall afflict your souls." The rarity of ʻâsôwr plus the matched affliction-command makes this a genuine verbal link, not a mere theme. The Verifier confirms the tier.
Leviticus 23:27
basis: two rare shared lexemes — H6218 ʻâsôwr (only 16 vv) + H4744 miqrâʼ (22 vv) — co-occurring with the affliction-verb H6031 ʻânâh (78 vv) and H7637 shᵉbîyʻîy (94 vv); the low-frequency pair fixing both verses to the same calendar date is what earns the 'verbal' tier; Verifier-computed and confirmed
Numbers 29:8 repeats verbatim the offering-formula of the daily and festal calendar: rêyach (H7381) + nîychôwach (H5207, "restful aroma") + ʻôlâh (H5930, "burnt offering"), echoing Numbers 28:13 and the New Moon offering of Numbers 29:2. The fixed phrase "a pleasing aroma to the LORD... a burnt offering... unblemished" is one stock liturgical unit reused at every appointed time, so Keil & Delitzsch and Gill both note the Atonement burnt offering is "the same" as the seventh-month New Moon's. The Verifier rates the lexical overlap "verbal," but we deliberately under-claim to structural: a phrase legislated to recur at every feast is a stock formula, not a citation of one passage by another.
Numbers 28:13 · Numbers 29:2
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H5207 nîychôwach (43 vv) + H7381 rêyach (55 vv) + H5930 ʻôlâh (261 vv) + H3532 kebes (100 vv); Verifier tier 'verbal' downgraded by editor to structural — recurring liturgical formula reused at every appointed time, not a one-way quotation
Numbers 29:11's added goat ties to the sin-offering pattern repeated throughout the festal calendar (e.g. Numbers 28:15): shared sâʻîyr (H8163, "shaggy goat"), neçek (H5262, "drink offering"), ʻêz (H5795, "goat"), and tâmîyd (H8548, "continual"). The same "one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering" formula recurs at each feast, marking the structural backbone of the calendar.
Numbers 28:15
basis: shared festal sin-offering lexemes H8163 sâʻîyr (57 vv) + H5262 neçek (62 vv) + H5795 ʻêz (74 vv) + H8548 tâmîyd (103 vv) — recurring calendar formula; Verifier-computed
The one human command of the day — wə-ʻinnîṯem ʼeṯ-napšōṯêḵem (H6031 + H5315), "afflict your souls" — becomes a load-bearing idiom across the canon. The Cambridge Bible cross-lists Numbers 30:13, Psalm 35:13, and Isaiah 58:3, 5, where Israel asks why God ignores the fast in which they "afflict the soul," and God answers that the fast He chose is to "loose the chains of injustice." By the first century the Day of Atonement is simply called "the Fast" (Acts 27:9). This is a cross-Testament motif: the Acts reference is Greek and shares no Strong's number with the Hebrew here, so it is tiered structural / thematic on the shared institution, not a verbal link. The Isaiah and Psalm links are Hebrew-to-Hebrew and do share H6031 ʻânâh, but the thread as a whole is held thematic because it traces the idiom's afterlife rather than one verse quoting another.
Isaiah 58:3 · Psalm 35:13 · Acts 27:9
basis: shared idiom 'afflict the soul' (Hebrew side shares H6031 ʻânâh + H5315 nephesh with Isaiah 58 / Psalm 35); the Acts 27:9 tie is cross-Testament (Greek) and rests on the shared institution 'the Fast,' not on a Strong's match — therefore thematic, never verbal
Numbers 29:11 names "the sin offering of atonement" (hak-kippurîm, H3725) — an explicit back-reference to the rite of Leviticus 16. The Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme between Numbers 29:11 and Leviticus 16:29 in the index, so the connection is intertextual-thematic (named by the day, argued by the commentators: Poole, Cambridge, Keil & Delitzsch all route this verse through Leviticus 16), not a verbal match. We record it as flagged rather than asserting a verbal link the index does not support.
Leviticus 16:29 · Leviticus 16:34
basis: Verifier reports NO shared lexeme with Leviticus 16:29; the link is the day's own name (hak-kippurîm, H3725) and the commentators' cross-reference, an argued thematic tie, not an indexed verbal one
Numbers 29:9's minchâh (H4503) of fine flour bâlal (H1101, "mingled") with oil follows the proportional grain-offering rule of Numbers 15 (e.g. 15:6) and Leviticus 23:13, sharing the rare cluster ʻissârôwn (H6241, "tenth-part," only 22 vv), bâlal (H1101, 41 vv), and çôleth (H5560, "fine flour," 52 vv). The Verifier rates this overlap "verbal" on the strength of three low-frequency terms co-occurring; we hold it at structural because the words constitute the standard companion-gift recipe legislated to attend every animal offering, not a quotation of one text by another. The descending measures (3 / 2 / 1 tenths, by bull / ram / lamb) are identical to Numbers 28:12–13.
Numbers 15:6 · Leviticus 23:13
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H6241 ʻissârôwn (22 vv) + H1101 bâlal (41 vv) + H5560 çôleth (52 vv) + H4503 minchâh (194 vv); Verifier tier 'verbal' downgraded by editor to structural — fixed proportional grain-offering recipe recurring across the offering legislation, not a citation
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The burnt offering must be təmîmim (H8549), "without blemish" (Numbers 29:8), and ascends — ʻôlâh, from a root meaning to "go up" — as a rêaḥ nîḥōaḥ, a "restful aroma." The New Testament reads both terms of Christ: "a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:19) who "gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2). The unblemished, ascending, soul-soothing victim is the ancient and widely-held type the apostles claimed by name.
Numbers 29:8 · Ephesians 5:2 · 1 Peter 1:19
Numbers 29:11 glances at "the sin offering of atonement" — the Leviticus 16 rite where the high priest alone enters the Holy of Holies one day a year. Hebrews makes this the explicit type of Christ: "the high priest enters the Most Holy Place... once a year, and never without blood" (Hebrews 9:7), "but Christ... entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood" (Hebrews 9:12). The Cambridge Bible names the link directly: Leviticus 16 is the chapter "on which Hebrews 9:7-12; 9:23-28 is based." Because this is a cross-Testament (Greek–Hebrew) tie, it rests on the named ritual and the epistle's own argument, not on shared Strong's numbers — figural, but anciently and explicitly attested.
Numbers 29:11 · Hebrews 9:7 · Hebrews 9:12
The goat is a ḥaṭṭāṯ (H2403), one word for both "sin" and "sin offering." Paul exploits exactly that fusion: God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21). And the Atonement sin-offering bodies were "burned outside the camp" (Leviticus 16:27), which Hebrews makes the type of Christ who "suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people through His own blood" (Hebrews 13:11–12). The figure — the sin-bearing victim consumed beyond the camp — is anciently read of Christ; we mark it widely-held, while noting honestly that the specific goat of Numbers 29:11 is an added victim, the type proper resting on the Leviticus 16 goats it stands beside.
Numbers 29:11 · 2 Corinthians 5:21 · Hebrews 13:11
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is largely repetitive sacrificial legislation, and the commentary tradition reflects it: Barnes, Henry, JFB, and Keil & Delitzsch repeat near-identical notes across vv. 8–11, and Poole has no comment on vv. 8–10 ("No text from Poole on this verse"). Voices were therefore chosen for distinct contributions — Ellicott, Cambridge, and Benson on the affliction/fasting idiom (Benson and Poole preserving an almost identical inherited gloss), JFB on the two functions layered on the day (general "sweet savor" vs. sin atoned), Gill on the rabbinic ordering of the goats, Geneva on the Hebrew distributive and the daily offering. On threads, two are deliberately under-claimed: the Verifier rates both the restful-aroma link (29:8 → 28:13) and the grain-offering link (29:9 → 15:6 / Leviticus 23:13) as "verbal" on the strength of low-frequency shared terms, but because each is a recipe legislated to recur at every feast — a stock formula, not one passage citing another — we hold them at structural. The single most load-bearing cross-reference, Numbers 29:11 → Leviticus 16, is recorded as flagged: the day is named by it and every commentator routes through it, but the Verifier finds no shared indexed lexeme, so we decline to label it verbal. The affliction-of-soul thread (Isaiah 58 / Psalm 35 / Acts 27:9) is tiered structural: its Hebrew links share H6031 ʻânâh, but the Acts tie is cross-Testament and rests on the shared institution "the Fast." All three Christ-types are cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) and so cannot use shared Strong's numbers; they are tiered by the apostles' own explicit citation (Hebrews 9; 13:11–12; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 1; Ephesians 5), not by lexical match. Where the BSB supplies "day," "of an ephah," and "each," the Hebrew is elliptical; those supplements are noted as divergences, not errors.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)