Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
- KJV The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.
- NKJV “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
- NASB “You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
- NLT “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
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 bring the best firstfruits to God's house and not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Overview
Giving the first and best of the harvest acknowledged God's ownership, while the prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother's milk likely separated Israel from a pagan or cruel practice, though its exact background is debated. Both commands shaped a people set apart for holiness. Offering God our firstfruits still expresses trust that He is the source of every good gift (James 1:17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Exod 23:19Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Deut 14:21You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Deut 26:2you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name,
- Prov 3:9–10Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
- Deut 26:10And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land that You, O LORD, have given me.” Then you are to place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before Him.
- 1 Cor 15:20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
- Matt 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
- Jas 1:18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.
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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 34:26 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
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