The Seventh Month
1 “‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you. 2 You shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect; 3 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the ram, 4 and one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs; 5 and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering with its meal offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work; 8 but you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all without defect; 9 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, 10 one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs; 11 one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings. 12 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to Yahweh seven days. 13 You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect; 14 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for every bull of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each ram of the two rams, 15 and one tenth for every lamb of the fourteen lambs; 16 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering. 17 “‘On the second day you shall offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without defect; 18 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 19 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering and their drink offerings. 20 “‘On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect; 21 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 22 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering. 23 “‘On the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect; 24 their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 25 and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering. 26 “‘On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect; 27 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, 28 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering. 29 “‘On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect; 30 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, 31 and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and the drink offerings of it. 32 “‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect; 33 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, 34 and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering. 35 “‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall do no regular work; 36 but you shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect; 37 their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the ordinance, 38 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering, and its drink offering. 39 “‘You shall offer these to Yahweh in your set feasts—in addition to your vows and your free will offerings—for your burnt offerings, your meal offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’” 40 Moses told the children of Israel according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses.
The autumn festivals are costed out in full, and the bulls of the feast of booths count down from thirteen to seven.
The seventh month carries three observances in twenty-two days, and the chapter gives the requirements for each.
The first day is a day of blowing of trumpets Numbers 29:1. The tenth is the day of atonement, and its instruction repeats the one law of that day: you shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work Numbers 29:7.
And from the fifteenth, the feast of booths, which gets more space here than any other festival in Scripture.
The quantities are enormous and they do something no other feast does. The first day requires thirteen bulls; the second, twelve; the third, eleven — and so on down to seven on the seventh day Numbers 29:13–32.
Seventy bulls in total, descending one a day. Nothing in the text explains the pattern, and the arithmetic is unmistakable once it is noticed: the feast of the completed harvest is celebrated with a diminishing offering, tapering rather than building.
The eighth day then breaks the pattern entirely — a solemn assembly with a single bull, one ram, seven lambs Numbers 29:35–36. After a week of extravagance, a quiet day with the smallest offering of the festival.
The rams and lambs stay constant throughout while the bulls fall, so the shape is deliberate rather than a matter of supply.
What is worth holding from these two chapters is the sheer scale of the operation. Read as a budget, the annual requirement runs to well over a thousand animals from the national flock, before a single private offering is brought. The tabernacle was not a chapel; it was an institution with a supply chain, and the tribes had to fund it.
And every festival in the list carries the same qualifier: all of it is in addition to the continual burnt offering Numbers 29:11 Numbers 29:16 and the rest.
The chapter ends by distinguishing the national obligations from private devotion: these are what you offer in addition to your vows and your free will offerings Numbers 29:39. What a person gives out of gratitude is his own business, and it is not counted against what the nation owes.
settled What this mark means