What Does Numbers 28:13 Mean in the King James?

And a several tenth deal of flour mingled with oil for a meat offering unto one lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

Numbers 28:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The measured grain and oil are not incidental beside the lamb: the offering’s culminating aroma carries the hidden sense of rest.

THE MEANING

This verse gathers flour, oil, one lamb, and fire into a single measured act of approach to the LORD. Its closing image names the rising scent as pleasing and settling, so the offering ends in the language of welcome. The reader meets devotion as embodied giving, where cultivated provision and animal life stand together.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that the lamb alone constitutes the offering falls away: this verse also gives the flour and oil their measured place.

THE ROOT

רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ

rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ

GROWS FROM

נוח

n-w-ḥ

To rest, settle, or come to rest.

“sweet savour” in this verse is rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ. English emphasizes the pleasant smell, while the Hebrew phrase also carries a soothing, settling quality through its connection to the root meaning “rest.” The offering is not merely burned; its rising aroma is described in language that evokes welcome and rest before the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

nûaḥ: To rest, settle.

נוּחַ

This verb gives the root’s basic action and illuminates the settling quality carried by the aroma phrase.

menûḥāh: Rest, resting place.

מְנוּחָה

This noun shows the same root naming a state or place of rest, echoing the aroma’s restful quality.

THE PATTERN

An offering is repeatedly recognized through an aroma that names its acceptance before the LORD.

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

Genesis 8:21 · KJVThe same sweet-savour language follows Noah’s offering, and the verse moves from that aroma to the LORD’s promise not to strike every living thing again.

And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Exodus 29:18 · KJVThe whole ram becomes a sweet savour, showing the same pattern of an offering whose rising aroma marks its acceptance.

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 5:2 · KJVHere self-giving is described with the same offering-and-aroma pattern, carrying it into a life given in love.

THE THREAD

And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:

Leviticus 2:2 · KJV

Leviticus 2:2 repeats ⁨רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ⁩ (rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ, “soothing or pleasing aroma”) while naming flour and oil as the gift placed on the altar. Numbers 28:13 sets that grain-and-oil portion beside the lamb, showing how the offering gathers cultivated provision and animal life into one approach.

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