And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.

NUMBERS 15:5KJV
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Numbers 15:5 (KJV)

What does Numbers 15:5 mean?

Numbers 15:5 gives an instruction for bringing wine along with a lamb offered to God. The wine is a separate part of the offering, measured out for each lamb rather than left to the person’s choice.

God gives these instructions to Moses for the Israelites. Following the flour and oil in verse 4, the wine completes the set of materials specified for a lamb.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 15:5

  • “hin” — הִין (hin): A hin was a measure for liquids. The verse calls for one quarter of a hin, roughly one liter, though the exact ancient measure is uncertain.
  • “offering” — נֶסֶךְ (nesekh): The word refers to a liquid offering that is poured out. In the phrase “drink offering,” the wine is presented to God rather than served as a drink to the people.

Why Numbers 15:5 matters

  • The amount is tied to the animal being offered. The phrase “for one lamb” gives a measure for each lamb, not a single amount regardless of the number brought.
  • The wine accompanies more than one kind of animal offering. The verse includes both a “burnt offering,” in which the animal was burned on the altar, and a “sacrifice,” a broader term for an animal offered to God.
  • The quantities change with the animal. In verses 6–10, the amounts of wine, flour, and oil increase for a ram and then for a bull.

Where else these words appear

“hin” Hebrew H1969 · used in 19 verses

  • Exodus 29:40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.
  • Numbers 15:7 And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of an hin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
  • Ezekiel 4:11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

“fourth” Hebrew H7243 · used in 54 verses

  • Genesis 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
  • 1 Kings 6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
  • 1 Chronicles 27:7 The fourth captain for the fourth month was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.

“offering” Hebrew H5262 · used in 62 verses

  • Genesis 35:14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
  • Numbers 28:31 Ye shall offer them beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering,(they shall be unto you without blemish) and their drink offerings.
  • 2 Kings 16:15 And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by.

“lamb” Hebrew H3532 · used in 100 verses

  • Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
  • Numbers 7:53 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.
  • Numbers 29:18 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: