You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they are not to be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma.
Parallel translations
- WEB As an offering of first fruits you shall offer them to Yahweh: but they shall not rise up for a pleasant aroma on the altar.
- KJV As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.
- NKJV As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma.
- NASB As an offering of first fruits you shall bring them to the Lord, but they shall not ascend as a soothing aroma on the altar.
- NLT You may add yeast and honey to an offering of the first crops of your harvest, but these must never be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
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
Yeast and honey may be brought as firstfruits but not burned on the altar. Some gifts are acceptable as offerings yet not for the altar fire.
Overview
Though leaven and honey could not be burned, they could be presented as firstfruit gifts to God, showing a distinction between what is dedicated and what is burned. This preserves the symbolic purity of the altar while still allowing thankful giving. The careful distinctions teach reverence for God's specific instructions in worship rather than human preference.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 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.
- Gen 23:10–11Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham,
- Lev 7:13Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread.
- Gen 23:17So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over
- Exod 22:29You must not hold back offerings from your granaries or vats. You are to give Me the firstborn of your sons.
- Exod 23:10–11For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,
- 2 Chr 31:5As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything.
- 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.
- Lev 23:10“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest.
- Rev 14:4These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
- 1 Cor 15:20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
- Num 15:20From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 2:12 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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