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Numbers 29

YHWH orders Israel’s seventh-month worship through appointed gatherings, rest from work, and sacrifices added to the continual offerings.

The seventh month brings Israel a series of appointed gatherings, beginning with trumpet blasts and followed by a day of self-humbling and a seven-day feast. YHWH specifies the animals and accompanying offerings for each occasion, along with commands to cease work. During the seven-day feast, the number of bulls decreases each day; an eighth-day assembly follows. These sacrifices are added to the continual offerings. Moses passes all these commands on to the children of Israel.

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1“‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you.
2You shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;
5and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you;
6in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering with its meal offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
7“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work;
8but you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD for a pleasant aroma: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all without defect;
11one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.
12“‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days.
13You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect;
16and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
17“‘On the second day you shall offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
18and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;
19and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering and their drink offerings.
22and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.
25and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
32“‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
35“‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall do no regular work;
39“‘You shall offer these to the LORD in your set feasts—in addition to your vows and your free will offerings—for your burnt offerings, your meal offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’”
40Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.
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Key verses
Numbers 29:1Trumpet blasts mark the month’s opening gathering, with rest from regular work and a prescribed set of offerings.
Numbers 29:7The tenth-day gathering joins self-humbling with complete cessation of work, followed by commands for offerings associated with atonement.
Numbers 29:12The seven-day feast begins here, introducing the chapter’s longest sequence of sacrifices and its day-by-day decrease in bulls.
Where this chapter reaches

Leviticus describes the same seventh-month observances, while Ezra records the keeping of the feast with the prescribed daily burnt offerings. Hebrews addresses the repeated sacrifices and the work of atonement that also appear here, contrasting repeated offerings with Christ’s single sacrifice.

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After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you about the continual offerings remaining in place throughout these special gatherings?

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How do the commands to stop work shape your reading of this month’s demanding schedule of sacrifices?

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Questions people ask about Numbers 29

What festivals are described in Numbers 29?

The chapter sets out offerings for the first-day trumpet observance, the tenth-day Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles beginning on the fifteenth day. An eighth-day solemn assembly follows the seven-day feast. Numbers 29 emphasizes the required sacrifices; Leviticus supplies further details about these observances.

What does “afflict your souls” mean in Numbers 29:7?

The phrase calls for self-humbling on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. It has long been understood to include fasting. Numbers 29 itself does not spell out the practice; it pairs the command with a complete ban on work and instructions for sacrifices.

Why does the number of bulls decrease in Numbers 29?

During the seven-day feast, the prescribed number of bulls falls from thirteen to seven, totaling seventy. The rams and lambs remain at two and fourteen each day. The chapter gives no explanation for the decreasing count or the total, so claims about their symbolic meaning go beyond what it states.

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What the Bible says about worship →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).