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On the second day you are to present twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
Numbers 29:17 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “‘On the second day you shall offer twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
  • KJV And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:
  • NKJV ‘On the second day present twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,
  • NASB ‘Then on the second day: twelve bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs one year old without defect;
  • NLT “On the second day of this seven-day festival, sacrifice twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all 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

On the second day of Tabernacles Israel offered twelve bulls, two rams, and fourteen flawless lambs, beginning a daily decrease in bulls.

Overview

The second day's offering reduced the bulls from thirteen to twelve, starting a descending pattern unique to this feast. The careful, lavish sacrifices continued the week's overflowing worship while requiring flawless animals. Some see the diminishing total of seventy bulls across the feast as embracing the nations; what is clear is that such abundant worship anticipates the joy and provision found fully in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Num 29:20–40On the third day you are to present eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
  • Num 29:13As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
  • Lev 23:36For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you must not do any regular work.
  • Jer 7:22–23For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
  • Isa 1:11“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
  • Hos 6:6For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
  • Heb 9:3–14Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
  • Heb 8:13By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
  • Ps 50:8–9I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.
  • Ps 69:31And this will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.
  • Ps 51:16–17For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
  • Ps 40:6Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
  • Rom 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Numbers videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Numbers 29:17YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NumbersMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 29:17 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.