Num 15:2-10 | NETfull | STEP | “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land where you are to live, which I am giving you,

Numbers 15:2-10

2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land where you are to live, ^{▼▼ Heb “the land of your habitations.”} which I am giving you, ^{▼▼ The Hebrew participle here has the futur instans use of the participle, expressing that something is going to take place. It is not imminent, but it is certain that God would give the land to Israel.} 3 and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock (whether a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a freewill offering or in your solemn feasts) to create a pleasing aroma to the Lord, 4 then the one who presents his offering to the Lord must bring ^{▼▼ The three words at the beginning of this verse are all etymologically related: “the one who offers his offering shall offer.”} a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of olive oil. ^{▼▼ Obviously, as the wording of the text affirms, this kind of offering would be made after they were in the land and able to produce the grain and oil for the sacrifices. The instructions anticipated their ability to do this, and this would give hope to them. The amounts are difficult to determine, but it may be that they were to bring 4.5 liters of flour and 1.8 liters each of oil and wine.} 5 You must also prepare one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering ^{▼▼ The drink-offering was an ancient custom, mentioned in the Ugaritic tablets of Ras Shamra (14th century b.c.). The drink offering was poured out at the base of the altar (see Sir 50:15 and Josephus, Ant. 3.9.4 [3.234]).} with the burnt offering or the sacrifice for each lamb. ^{▼▼ Heb “for the one lamb,” but it clearly means “for each lamb.”} 6 Or for a ram, you must prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with one-third of a hin of olive oil, 7 and for a drink offering you must offer one-third of a hin of wine as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 8 And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a peace offering to the Lord, 9 then a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil must be presented ^{▼▼ The text changes from direct address here to the third person form of the verb. If the MT is correct, then to make a smooth translation it would need to be made a passive (in view of the fact that no subject is expressed).} with the young bull, 10 and you must present as the drink offering half a hin of wine with the fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.