Numbers 28:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

In the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מִקְרָא

miqrâʼ

H4744

“convocation of”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 23× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 12:16

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7121

TWOT: 2063d

convocation, convoking, reading, a calling together - convocation, sacred assembly - convoking - reading

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is מִקְרָא convocation H4744 — appearing just 23 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מִקְרָא convocation H4744 occurs in 22 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
6 nouns
1 adjective
1 particle

Verb forms

תַעֲשֽׂוּ Qal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 17 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 28:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 12:16 In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.
Leviticus 23:7–8 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 28:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בַּיּ֥וֹם הָרִאשׁ֖וֹן מִקְרָא קֹ֑דֶשׁ כָּל מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֥א תַעֲשֽׂוּ

In the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 28:18 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ ἡμέρα ὁ πρῶτος ἐπίκλητος ἅγιος εἰμί σύ πᾶς ἔργον λατρευτός οὐ ποιέω

And the first day shall be to you a holy convocation; you⌃ shall do no servile work.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

בְּיוֹמָא קַדְמָאָה מְעָרַע קַדִישׁ כָּל עֲבִידַת פּוּלְחַן לָא תַעְבְדוּן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

בְּיוֹמָא קַמָאָה דְחַגָא מְאָרַע קַדִישׁ כָּל עִיבִידַת פּוּלְחָנָא לָא תַעַבְדוּן

On the first day of the festival a holy convocation; no servile work shall ye do;

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 28:18 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Num 28:18 In the first day [shall be] an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work [therein]:

Ver. 18. {See Trapp on "Exo 12:18"} {See Trapp on "Lev 23:7"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, solemn assembly.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

John Gill's Exposition

In the first day shall be an holy convocation,.... The first of the seven days, which was kept in a very religious manner:

ye shall do no manner of servile work therein; except by preparing food to eat; see Exo 12:16.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

18. A holy convocation — Lev_23:2. No…

servile work — Lev_23:7, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

In the first day, i.e., on the fifteenth. (see on Exo_12:16 Lev_23:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

כל מלאכת עבדה [YE SHALL DO] NO SERVILE WORK — even work that is a necessity for you, as, for instance, a matter that may become lost (that cannot be postponed without irretrievable loss) and which is permissible on the intermediate days of Passover and Tabernacles (lit., the week days of the Festival) is forbidden on the Festival itself (see Rashi on Leviticus 23:8).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is miqrâʼ (“convocation”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “convocation” (miqrâʼ) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Exodus 12:16, which shares the word «convocation», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«תַעֲשֽׂוּ» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.