Numbers 29 · Verse 12

Numbers 29:12

And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days:
Numbers 29:12, King James Version

Numbers 29:12 in other translations

BSBOn the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the LORD for seven days.
WEB“‘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 the LORD seven days.
ASVAnd on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto Jehovah seven days:
YLT‘And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month a holy convocation ye have; ye do no servile work; and ye have celebrated a festival to Jehovah seven days,
DARBYAnd on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do; and ye shall celebrate a feast to Jehovah seven days;
BBEAnd on the fifteenth day of the seventh month let there be a holy meeting; do no field-work, and keep a feast to the Lord for seven days;
WebsterAnd on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days:

What does Numbers 29:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 29:12-34
12-34. on the fifteenth day--was to be held the feast of booths or tabernacles. (See Le 23:34, 35). The feast was to last seven days, the first and last of which were to be kept as Sabbaths, and a particular offering was prescribed for each day, the details of which are given with a minuteness suited to the infant state of the church. Two things are deserving of notice: First, that this feast was distinguished by a greater amount and variety of sacrifices than any other--partly because, occurring at the end of the year, it might be intended to supply any past deficiencies--partly because, being immediately after the ingathering of the fruits, it ought to be a liberal acknowledgment--and partly, perhaps, because God consulted the weakness of mankind, who naturally grow weary both of the charge and labor of such services when they are long-continued, and made them every day less toilsome and expensive [Patrick]. Secondly, it will be remarked that the sacrifices varied in a progressive ratio of decrease every day.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month - On this day there was to be a solemn assembly, and for seven days sacrifices were to be offered; on the first day thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs. On each succeeding day one bullock less, till on the seventh day there were only seven, making in all seventy. What an expensive service! How should we magnify God for being delivered from it! Yet these were all the taxes they had to pay. At the public charge there were annually offered to God, independently of trespass-offerings and voluntary vows, fifteen goats, twenty-one kids, seventy-two rams, one hundred and thirty-two bullocks, and eleven hundred and one lambs! But how little is all this when compared with the lambs slain every year at the passover, which amounted in one year to the immense number of 255,600 slain in the temple itself, which was the answer that Cestius, the Roman general, received when he asked the priests how many persons had come to Jerusalem at their annual festivals; the priests, numbering the people by the lambs that had been slain, said, "twenty-five myriads, five thousand and six hundred." - For an account of the feast of tabernacles, see on Lev 23:34 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Numbers 29:12-40
Soon after the day of atonement, the day in which men were to afflict their souls, followed the feast of Tabernacles, in which they were to rejoice before the Lord. Their days of rejoicing were to be days of sacrifices. A disposition to be cheerful does us good, when it encourages our hearts in the duties of God's service. All the days of dwelling in booths they must offer sacrifices; while we are here in a tabernacle state, it is our interest, as well as our duty, constantly to keep up communion with God. The sacrifices for each of the seven days are appointed. Every day there must be a sin-offering, as in the other feasts. Our burnt-offerings of praise cannot be accepted of God, unless we have an interest in the great sacrifice which Christ offered, when he made himself a Sin-offering for us. And no extraordinary services should put aside stated devotions. Every thing here reminds us of our sinfulness. The life that we live in the flesh must be by the faith of the Son of God; until we go to be with him, to behold his glory, and praise his mercy, who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. To whom be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Numbers 29:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וּבַחֲמִשָּׁה֩u.va.cha.mi.Shahand on [the] fif-H2568
עָשָׂ֨ר'a.SarteenH6240
י֜וֹםYomdayH3117
לַחֹ֣דֶשׁla.Cho.deshof the monthH2320
הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗יha.she.vi.'I<the> seventhH7637
מִֽקְרָא\־mik.ra'-a convocation ofH4744
קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ko.deshholinessH6944
יִהְיֶ֣הyih.Yehit will beH1961
לָכֶ֔םla.Khemto <the> you
כָּל\־kol-anyH3605
מְלֶ֥אכֶתme.Le.khetwork ofH4399
עֲבֹדָ֖ה'a.vo.DahservitudeH5656
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
תַעֲשׂ֑וּta.'a.Suyou will doH6213
וְחַגֹּתֶ֥םve.cha.go.Temand you will celebrate a festivalH2287
חַ֛גchaga festivalH2282
לַיהוָ֖הla.Yah.wehto YahwehH3068
שִׁבְעַ֥תshiv.'AtsevenH7651
יָמִֽים\׃ya.MimdaysH3117

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Numbers 29:12

  • Deuteronomy 16:13-14

    Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

  • Exodus 34:22

    And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

  • Nehemiah 8:14

    And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:

  • Hebrews 11:9-13

    By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. …

  • Nehemiah 8:18

    Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.

  • Zechariah 14:16-19

    And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

  • John 1:14

    And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

  • Exodus 23:16

    And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

  • Ezekiel 45:25

    In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

  • Leviticus 23:33-43

    And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the fifteenth day.This was the feast of Tabernacles, kept in commemoration of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness for forty years. The first and last days were to be kept as sabbaths, on which there were solemn assemblies; and for seven days sacrifices were offered. On the other festivals, two bullocks sufficed, (ch. 28:11, 19, 27), and on the festival at the beginning of this month, only one was appointed; but, on the first day of this festival, thirteen young bullocks were appointed; and so on each successive day, with the decrease of only one bullock, till on the seventh day, there were only seven, making in all seventy bullocks. The lambs, and the rams also, were in a double proportion to the number sacrificed at any other festival. This was an expensive service; but more easy at this time of the year than any other, as Bishop Patrick observes, because now their barns were full, and their wine-presses overflowed; and their hearts might well be supposed to be more enlarged than at other times, in thankfulness to God for the multitude of his mercies. The Jewish doctors give this reason for the daily diminution of the number of the bullocks: the whole number, say they, was according to the languages of the seventy nations of the world; and the diminution of one every day signified, that there should be a gradual diminution of those nations till all things were brought under the government of the Messiah; in whose days "no sacrifices shall remain, but those of thanksgiving, prayer, and praise."
Ex 23:16; 34:22; Le 23:33-43; De 16:13,14; Ne 8:14,18; Eze 45:25
Zec 14:16-19; Joh 1:14; Heb 11:9-13

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Numbers 29:11

    One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings.

  • Numbers 29:12

    And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days:

  • Numbers 29:13

    And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:

Read all of Numbers 29

Numbers 29:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		También á los quince días del mes séptimo tendréis santa convocación; ninguna obra servil haréis, y celebraréis solemnidad á Jehová por siete días;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et le quinzième jour du septième mois, vous aurez une sainte convocation; vous ne ferez aucune œuvre de service, et vous célébrerez une fête à l’ Éternel pendant sept jours.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und am fünfzehnten Tage des siebten Monats soll euch eine heilige Versammlung sein; keinerlei Dienstarbeit sollt ihr tun, und ihr sollt dem Jehova ein Fest feiern sieben Tage.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quintadecima vero die mensis septimi, quæ vobis sancta erit atque venerabilis, omne opus servile non facietis in ea, sed celebrabitis solemnitatem Domino septem diebus.