One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:

NUMBERS 7:57KJV
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Numbers 7:57 (KJV)

What does Numbers 7:57 mean?

Numbers 7:57 lists the animals given for a burnt offering as part of a leader’s gift at the dedication of the altar. A burnt offering was an animal gift placed on the altar and burned. The verse specifies three animals, each given separately for that purpose.

The narrator is recording the gift brought on the eighth day by Gamaliel, leader of the people of Manasseh. The lamb is described as being “of the first year,” which identifies its age.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 7:57

  • “offering” — עֹלָה (ʿolah): This word names the burnt offering. It is associated with the idea of something going up, a fitting name for an offering burned on the altar.

Why Numbers 7:57 matters

  • The animals in this verse have a particular purpose within a larger gift. The words “for a burnt offering” distinguish them from the materials listed just before them and the animals listed afterward.
  • The verse forms part of a repeated pattern of gifts from the leaders. Gamaliel’s burnt offering matches the animals listed for the leader before him, in Numbers 7:51.

Where else these words appear

“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:

“bullock” Hebrew H6499 · used in 119 verses

  • Genesis 32:15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
  • Numbers 7:63 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:
  • Numbers 29:33 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: