What Does Numbers 28:11 Mean?
And in the heads of your new moons you shall bring near an ascending offering to the LORD; two young bulls, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year, whole;
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;THE KEY
A new month opens as an act of drawing near, and its offering rises.
THE MEANING
At the beginning of each month, you draw near to the LORD through the appointed offering; that offering also bears the image of what rises. The verse makes the calendar’s turning a recurring act of nearness and ascent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A new month is merely a neutral date change; this verse marks the threshold through approach to the LORD.
THE ROOT
תַּקְרִיבוּ
taqrivu
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
approach, draw near
“bring near” in this verse is taqrivu. The verb behind “offer” carries the movement of approach, and the related noun korban is a thing brought near. The month’s opening is held in the language of renewed nearness to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near
קָרוֹב
The shared root links the act of offering with the state of being near.
qorban: offering, a thing brought near
קָרְבָּן
This noun names what is brought near, making the root’s movement visible.
חָדְשֵׁיכֶם
ḥodsheikhem
GROWS FROM
חדש
ḥ-d-š
be new, renew
“new moons” in this verse is ḥodsheikhem. The word for “month” belongs to the root for newness and renewal. The calendar’s repeated turn carries the sound of beginning again.
ALSO GROWS
ḥadash: new
חָדָשׁ
This adjective shares the root that names the month’s new beginning.
ḥiddesh: renew, make new
חִדֵּשׁ
This verb makes explicit the renewal carried in the month’s name.
ḥodesh: month, new moon
חֹדֶשׁ
The calendar word itself carries the root’s association with newness.
עֹלָה
ʿolah
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
go up, ascend
“ascending offering” in this verse is ʿolah. Olah is named from the verb “go up” or “ascend,” giving the burnt offering an image of rising. Beside “draw near,” the verse sets approach and ascent together at each new month.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: go up, ascend
עָלָה
This verb is the movement at the root of the offering’s name.
ʿaliyyah: ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
This related noun preserves the same upward movement.
THE PATTERN
The new moon is a recurring threshold woven into a larger rhythm of appointed observance.
Blow the horn at the new moon, at the full moon, on the day of our feast.On the day of the new moon it is a young bull, whole, and six lambs, and a ram; they are whole.Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or in the portion of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths.THE THREAD
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steady breath within me.The word translated “renew” comes from the same root, חדש (ḥ-d-š), that forms “month” in Numbers. Numbers marks newness on the calendar; this verse carries that same root inward, as a request for renewal within.
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