And tell them that this is the offering made by fire you are to present to the LORD as a regular burnt offering each day: two unblemished year-old male lambs.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall tell them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to Yahweh: male lambs a year old without defect, two day by day, for a continual burnt offering.
- KJV And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering.
- NKJV “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering.
- NASB And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering by fire which you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs one year old without defect as a continual burnt offering every day.
- NLT “Say to the people: This is the special gift you must present to the Lord as your daily burnt offering. You must offer two one-year-old male lambs with no defects.
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
The daily offering is two unblemished year-old lambs, given as a continual burnt offering.
Overview
God prescribes two perfect lambs each day as a perpetual burnt offering, signifying Israel's continual consecration to the Lord. The unblemished daily lamb points unmistakably to Jesus, the Lamb of God without blemish, whose once-for-all sacrifice fulfills and ends the daily offerings (John 1:29; Hebrews 10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Lev 6:9“Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.
- Ezek 46:13–15And you shall provide an unblemished year-old lamb as a daily burnt offering to the LORD; you are to offer it every morning.
- Dan 8:13Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?”
- Dan 11:31His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.
- Dan 12:11And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days.
- 1 Pet 1:19–20but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.
- Exod 29:38–42This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.
- Rev 13:8And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.
- John 1:29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 28:3 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.