What Does Numbers 29:12 Mean in the King James?
And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
For seven days, ordinary service gives way to a shared celebration that makes time itself set apart.
THE MEANING
A marked time gathers you, suspends ordinary service, and gives seven days to a feast before the LORD. The pause has a communal form and lasts beyond a single moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that every day must prove its worth through productive service gives way to a rhythm that includes rest and shared celebration.
THE ROOT
וְחַגֹּתֶם
vechaggōtem
GROWS FROM
חגג
ḥagag
To celebrate or keep a festival.
“keep a feast” in this verse is vechaggōtem. The command verb shares its root with חַג (ḥag, festival), joining the act of celebration to the feast itself. The seven days become an enacted rhythm of celebration, not just a single meal.
ALSO GROWS
ḥag: Festival or feast.
חַג
The noun names the shared celebration that the verse commands you to keep.
ḥagigah: Festival offering or celebration.
חֲגִיגָה
This related word shows the feast extending into what is brought and shared as part of the festival.
מִקְרָא־קֹדֶשׁ
miqra-qodesh
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
To call, proclaim, or read aloud.
“holy convocation” in this verse is miqra-qodesh. מִקְרָא (miqra, convocation or reading) grows from the verb for calling and proclaiming. The set-apart day is a gathering summoned into being, with the sense of words called aloud carried in the same root.
ALSO GROWS
qara: To call, proclaim, or read aloud.
קָרָא
This verb reveals the calling within the convocation: the gathering is summoned, not merely labeled.
miqra: Convocation or reading.
מִקְרָא
The same word can name an assembly or a reading, linking gathering with words voiced together.
מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה
meleket avodah
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
To serve or work.
“servile work” in this verse is meleket avodah. The phrase means work of service: עֲבֹדָה (avodah, service or work) shares its root with עֶבֶד (eved, servant) and עָבַד (avad, to serve or work). The day interrupts the usual service itself and gives the time a different center.
ALSO GROWS
avad: To serve or work.
עָבַד
The verse suspends this ordinary activity for the span of the feast.
eved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
The shared root lets work carry the shade of service, which makes the pause more than a change of task.
THE PATTERN
Set-apart time interrupts service and gathers people into shared celebration.
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:THE THREAD
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.Deuteronomy uses the same חָגַג (chagag, to keep a festival) root and the same seven-day span. Numbers joins the feast to a release from service; Deuteronomy shows that same span opening into rejoicing.
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