What Does Numbers 7:15 Mean in the King James?

One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:

Numbers 7:15 · 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.

THE KEY

The hidden movement in “burnt offering” is ascent: what is laid on the altar is named as what rises.

THE MEANING

The verse names each animal singly, then gathers them under ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (ʿōlāh, “ascending offering”). Its language holds the material and the movement together: the gift is embodied, and it rises.

THE ROOT

עֹלָה

ʿōlāh

GROWS FROM

עלה

to go up, ascend

The English phrase “burnt offering” foregrounds fire, while ⁨עֹלָה⁩ names the offering by its upward motion. The same root can describe ascending and causing something to go up, linking the gift with what rises from it.

ALSO GROWS

ʿālāh: Go up or ascend.

עָלָה

This is the root verb beneath ⁨עֹלָה⁩: the offering carries the motion of rising in its name.

heʿĕlāh: Cause something to go up; bring or offer it upward.

הֶעֱלָה

This causative branch makes explicit the action implied by the offering’s name: something is brought up.

THE PATTERN

What is offered to God is pictured as rising or being presented before God.

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:20 · KJVLike the offering in Numbers, the gift is placed on an altar and named as a burnt offering.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Psalm 141:2 · KJVPrayer and lifted hands are pictured as offerings presented before God.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Hebrews 13:15 · KJVPraise, too, is described as an offering brought before God.

THE THREAD

But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Leviticus 1:9 · KJV

Leviticus uses the same Hebrew noun, ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (ʿōlāh, “ascending offering”), from ⁨עלה⁩, “to ascend.” Its altar language makes explicit the upward movement compressed into Numbers’ phrase.

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