What Does Numbers 29:8 Mean in the King James?

But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish:

Numbers 29:8 · 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 word translated “offer” names a movement of approach: the offering is what is brought near.

THE MEANING

The verse places nearness in a specific, material form: a whole burnt offering, one bull, one ram, and seven yearling lambs. The Hebrew verb translated “offer” carries the movement of bringing near, while “without blemish” names completeness. Together, the verse pictures approach as a concrete offering brought whole before the LORD.

THE ROOT

וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם

vehikravtem

GROWS FROM

ק־ר־ב

Draw near, approach.

The verb translated “offer” carries the movement of bringing near. The related noun qorban, often rendered “offering,” carries that same root: the gift and the approach share one seed.

ALSO GROWS

qorbān: An offering; drawing near.

קָרְבָּן

This noun shares the verse’s root, so the offering is named through its relation to approach.

qarov: Near, close.

קָרוֹב

This branch makes explicit the nearness already carried by the verb translated “offer.”

עֹלָה

olah

GROWS FROM

ע־ל־ה

Go up, rise, ascend.

The Hebrew name olah holds the image of rising inside the term for a burnt offering. The verse’s offering is thus both brought near and described through ascent.

ALSO GROWS

aliyah: Ascent, going up.

עֲלִיָּה

This familiar derivative preserves the upward movement heard in olah.

maʿaleh: An ascent, upward movement.

מַעֲלֶה

This branch echoes the rising motion that gives olah its name.

תְּמִימִם

temimim

GROWS FROM

ת־מ־ם

Be complete, whole.

The word for “without blemish” carries the sense of completeness as well as physical soundness. The requirement is framed in the language of wholeness.

ALSO GROWS

tam: Whole, complete, blameless.

תָּם

This related form shows the root’s language of wholeness beyond this prescribed offering.

tom: Integrity, wholeness.

תֹּם

This noun makes visible the root’s connection between being complete and having integrity.

THE PATTERN

Approach is expressed through what is brought near and presented whole.

And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Leviticus 22:21 · KJVThe offering is accepted as whole, linking nearness to an offering without blemish.

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 rises as an offering, echoing the ascent named by olah.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1 · KJVThe verse expresses approach as a life presented whole and acceptable to God.

THE THREAD

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

Leviticus 1:3 · KJV

Both passages use the q-r-b root for bringing the offering near: Numbers has the verb “ye shall offer,” while Leviticus also names the offering as qorban. The shared root makes the action and the gift one idea: drawing near.

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