“You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. “You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
- BSB You must not hold back offerings from your granaries or vats. You are to give Me the firstborn of your sons.
- NKJV “You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.
- NASB “You shall not hold back the offering from your entire harvest and your wine. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.
- NLT “You must not hold anything back when you give me offerings from your crops and your wine. “You must give me your firstborn sons.
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
Israel must not delay offering the firstfruits of harvest and presses, and must give God their firstborn sons. The first and best belong to the Lord.
Overview
This command claims the firstfruits and firstborn as God's due, acknowledging Him as the giver of all and the redeemer of Israel's firstborn from Egypt. Prompt, wholehearted giving expresses trust and gratitude. The firstborn principle finds its fulfillment in Christ, the firstborn of all creation, given by the Father for our redemption (Colossians 1:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Exod 13:2“Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal. It is mine.”
- Exod 23:16And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.
- Deut 26:2–10that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there.
- Jas 1:18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
- Exod 23:19The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Rom 8:23Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
- Prov 3:9–10Honor Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase:
- Mic 7:1Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
- Exod 13:12that you shall set apart to Yahweh all that opens the womb, and every firstborn which you have that comes from an animal. The males shall be Yahweh’s.
- Exod 34:19“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
- Matt 6:33But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
- 2 Kgs 4:42A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God bread some of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. He said, “Give to the people, that they may eat.”
- Ezek 20:40For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh, “there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the first fruits of your offerings, with all your holy things.
- 2 Chr 31:5As soon as the commandment went out, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in the tithe of all things abundantly.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 22:29 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.