Single lesson
Daily and Festival Offerings
Numbers 28:1–29:40
This passage gives ordered instructions for offerings at daily, weekly, monthly, and festival times. It shows worship arranged by set occasions, with regular sacrifices and added offerings for special days.
Before you teach
Yahweh speaks to Moses and tells him to command the children of Israel about offerings presented “in their due season”. The instructions move through daily offerings, Sabbath, the beginnings of months, Passover and Unleavened Bread, the feast of weeks, and the appointed occasions of the seventh month. The passage ends with Moses telling Israel all that Yahweh commanded.
Explain the central teaching of Daily and Festival Offerings, using two details from the reading. This passage presents Israel’s worship as carefully ordered, with continual offerings and added sacrifices for set times before Yahweh.
Welcome: Daily and Festival Offerings
5 minIntroduce “Daily and Festival Offerings” and locate Numbers 28:1–29:40. This passage presents Israel’s worship as carefully ordered, with continual offerings and added sacrifices for set times before Yahweh. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Numbers 28:1, Numbers 29:5, Numbers 29:40
Read and explain the passage
12 minThe pattern begins with the continual burnt offering: two year-old male lambs without defect, one in the morning and one at evening. Each lamb is offered with fine flour mixed with oil and a drink offering. The repeated phrase “pleasant aroma” shows these offerings were presented to Yahweh regularly and reverently.
In the first month, Yahweh’s Passover is named on the fourteenth day, followed by a seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread. The first and seventh days are holy convocations with no regular work. During these days, offerings continue daily. The feast of weeks also includes a holy convocation, no regular work, and sacrifices with a goat for atonement.
The seventh month includes a day of blowing of trumpets, a day when the people are to “afflict your souls”, and a seven-day feast with an eighth-day solemn assembly. Here “afflict your souls” is part of the command for that day. The feast offerings are extensive, with the number of bulls decreasing day by day, while the continual burnt offering still remains.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Daily and Festival Offerings”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Numbers 28:3, Numbers 28:4, Numbers 28:5, Numbers 28:7, Numbers 28:8, Numbers 28:16, Numbers 28:17, Numbers 28:18, Numbers 28:24, Numbers 28:25, Numbers 28:26, Numbers 28:30, Numbers 29:1, Numbers 29:7, Numbers 29:12, Numbers 29:13, Numbers 29:17, Numbers 29:35, Numbers 29:38
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What details show that the daily offering was meant to be continual rather than occasional?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage presents Israel’s worship as carefully ordered, with continual offerings and added sacrifices for set times before Yahweh. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Numbers 28:3, Numbers 28:4, Numbers 28:6, Numbers 28:10, Numbers 28:15, Numbers 29:6, Numbers 28:18, Numbers 28:25, Numbers 28:26, Numbers 29:1, Numbers 29:7, Numbers 29:12
Make and respond: Instruction and context chart
12 minWork on “Daily and Festival Offerings: Instruction and context chart”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Daily and Festival Offerings” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Numbers 28:1, Numbers 29:5, Numbers 29:40
Closing: return to Daily and Festival Offerings
3 minRevisit Numbers 28:1–29:40. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Daily and Festival Offerings and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Numbers 28:1, Numbers 29:5, Numbers 29:40
Questions to explore
What details show that the daily offering was meant to be continual rather than occasional?
Look for the words about timing and repetition, especially the morning and evening pattern and the word “continual.”
Numbers 28:3, Numbers 28:4, Numbers 28:6
How does the passage show that Sabbath and monthly offerings did not replace the daily offering?
Notice the repeated phrase saying these offerings were given “in addition to” the continual burnt offering.
Numbers 28:10, Numbers 28:15, Numbers 29:6
Which days in this passage are called holy convocations with no regular work?
Trace the feast instructions and list each occasion where both descriptions appear together.
Numbers 28:18, Numbers 28:25, Numbers 28:26, Numbers 29:1, Numbers 29:7, Numbers 29:12
Make, think or respond
Daily and Festival Offerings: Instruction and context chart
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “Who is addressed?”, “What is required?”, “What reason or purpose is given?”.
- Read Numbers 28:1–29:40. Use “Daily and Festival Offerings” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Under the chart, distinguish instructions in their original setting from an application you could discuss today.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Daily and Festival Offerings connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Daily and Festival Offerings” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Numbers 28:1–29:40. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Numbers 28:1–29:40. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Numbers 28
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’
3 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.
4 You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at evening,
5 with one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil.
6 It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
7 Its drink offering shall be the fourth part of a hin for each lamb. You shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to Yahweh in the holy place.
8 The other lamb you shall offer at evening. As the meal offering of the morning, and as its drink offering, you shall offer it, an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
9 “ ‘On the Sabbath day, you shall offer two male lambs a year old without defect, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, and its drink offering:
10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.
11 “ ‘In the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect,
12 and three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, for each bull; and two tenth parts of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, for the one ram;
13 and one tenth part of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering to every lamb, as a burnt offering of a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
14 Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year.
15 Also, one male goat for a sin offering to Yahweh shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.
16 “ ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is Yahweh’s Passover.
17 On the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days.
18 In the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work,
19 but you shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. They shall be without defect,
20 with their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil. You shall offer three tenths for a bull, and two tenths for the ram.
21 You shall offer one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;
22 and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you.
23 You shall offer these in addition to the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering.
24 In this way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh. It shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.
25 On the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
26 “ ‘Also in the day of the first fruits, when you offer a new meal offering to Yahweh in your feast of weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work;
27 but you shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old;
28 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for each bull, two tenths for the one ram,
29 one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;
30 and one male goat, to make atonement for you.
31 Besides the continual burnt offering and its meal offering, you shall offer them and their drink offerings. See that they are without defect.
Numbers 29
1 “ ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you.
2 You shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;
3 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the ram,
4 and one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;
5 and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you;
6 in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering with its meal offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
7 “ ‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work;
8 but you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all without defect;
9 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the one ram,
10 one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;
11 one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.
12 “ ‘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 Yahweh seven days.
13 You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect;
14 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for every bull of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each ram of the two rams,
15 and one tenth for every lamb of the fourteen lambs;
16 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
17 “ ‘On the second day you shall offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
18 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;
19 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering and their drink offerings.
20 “ ‘On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
21 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;
22 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.
23 “ ‘On the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
24 their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;
25 and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
26 “ ‘On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
27 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance,
28 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.
29 “ ‘On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
30 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance,
31 and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and the drink offerings of it.
32 “ ‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
33 and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance,
34 and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
35 “ ‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall do no regular work;
36 but you shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;
37 their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the ordinance,
38 and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering, and its drink offering.
39 “ ‘You shall offer these to Yahweh in your set feasts—in addition to your vows and your free will offerings—for your burnt offerings, your meal offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’ ”
40 Moses told the children of Israel according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.