“Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present to Me My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their appointed time.’
Parallel translations
- WEB “Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’
- KJV Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.
- BSB “Command the Israelites and say to them: See that you present to Me at its appointed time the food for My offerings by fire, as a pleasing aroma to Me.
- NKJV “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.’
- NLT “Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food. See to it that they are brought at the appointed times and offered according to my instructions.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God commands Israel to faithfully present His offerings, a pleasing aroma, at their appointed times.
Overview
The Lord calls the offerings His food and a pleasant aroma, vivid language for sacrifices that signified acceptable fellowship with Him, offered in their due seasons. The regular, ordered worship taught Israel constant dependence on atonement, and the pleasing aroma anticipates Christ, who gave Himself as a fragrant offering to God (Ephesians 5:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Lev 3:11The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
- Gen 8:21Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.
- Lev 1:9but its innards and its legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
- Lev 1:13but the innards and the legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
- Exod 23:15You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.
- Lev 1:17He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
- Num 15:7and for the drink offering you shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
- Num 9:13But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
- Num 15:24then it shall be, if it was done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh, with its meal offering, and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.
- Num 15:3and will make an offering by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your set feasts, to make a pleasant aroma to Yahweh, of the herd, or of the flock;
- Ezek 20:41As a pleasant aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.
- Phil 4:18But I have all things, and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.
- 2 Cor 2:15For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish;
- Ps 81:3Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
- Num 9:2–3“Moreover let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season.
- Lev 21:8You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- Ezek 16:19My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Num 9:7Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?”
- Eph 5:2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
- Mal 1:12“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’
- Lev 21:6They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
- Exod 29:18You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to Yahweh; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
- Mal 1:7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 28:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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