What Does Numbers 7:81 Mean in the King James?

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

Numbers 7:81 · 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 burnt offering is named for its ascent: what is given rises toward God.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks of what is offered as having a direction: upward, toward God. It names one bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb, so the ascent is carried by specific creatures, not left as an idea.

THE ROOT

עֹלָה

ʿōlāh

GROWS FROM

עלה

ʿ-l-h

Go up, rise, ascend.

Under “burnt offering” is ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (olah), from ⁨עלה⁩ (ʿ-l-h), “to rise” or “go up.” The name holds the motion of the offering alongside the burning: what is given is also an ascent.

ALSO GROWS

ʿālāh: To rise, go up, or ascend.

עָלָה

This verb gives the offering its upward movement: it is named as an ascent.

maʿălāh: An ascent or upward going; also a step or degree.

מַעֲלָה

This noun carries the same root into a path upward, echoing the motion held in ⁨עֹלָה⁩.

THE PATTERN

A gift set before God takes the form of an ascent.

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 · KJVThe clean creatures are offered on the altar in a form whose name carries the movement of ascent.

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 · KJVThe offering is placed whole on the altar, and its rising is joined to the image of a pleasing savor.

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 image of an offering extends to a life presented to God as a living sacrifice.

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 word ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (olah) beneath “burnt offering” and shows the animal placed whole on the altar. The shared root ⁨עלה⁩ means “go up,” so the counted animals here carry that upward movement in their name.

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