All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the lambs of the first year twelve, with their meat offering: and the kids of the goats for sin offering twelve.

NUMBERS 7:87KJV
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Numbers 7:87 (KJV)

What does Numbers 7:87 mean?

Numbers 7:87 totals the animals the leaders of Israel brought for offerings when the altar was dedicated. The matching totals of twelve reflect the gifts brought by twelve leaders, one for each tribe. The verse also mentions the grain offerings that accompanied the animals.

The narrator groups the animals by the purpose of the offering. The young bulls, rams, and year-old male lambs were for burnt offerings, while the young male goats were for sin offerings.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 7:87

  • “burnt offering” — עֹלָה (ʿolah): This word refers to an offering burned on the altar. In this verse, the bulls, rams, and lambs belong to that group of offerings.
  • “meat offering” — מִנְחָה (minḥah): This word can mean a gift or an offering. Here, “meat offering” uses an older sense of “meat” as food; the gifts listed earlier in the chapter consist of fine flour mixed with oil.
  • “sin offering” — חַטָּאת (ḥaṭṭat): This word can refer to sin or to an offering connected with sin. Here, the young goats are counted separately for that purpose.

Why Numbers 7:87 matters

  • The totals bring together gifts that were presented on separate days. Numbers 7:84 introduces the list as the gifts given at the altar’s dedication, after the account of each leader’s offering.
  • The repeated number twelve gives the reader a way to see the contributions as a whole. Each leader brought one animal of each kind named in this verse, as shown in the individual accounts earlier in the chapter.

Where else these words appear

“kids” Hebrew H8163 · used in 57 verses

  • Genesis 27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:
  • Leviticus 16:26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.
  • Numbers 28:30 And one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you.

“goats” Hebrew H5795 · used in 74 verses

  • Genesis 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
  • Leviticus 9:3 And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering;
  • Numbers 29:5 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:

“lambs” 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:

“bullocks” 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 7:57 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: