“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.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest:
- KJV Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
- NKJV “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
- NASB “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and you gather its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.
- NLT “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest.
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
When Israel enters the land and reaps the harvest, they must bring the first sheaf of grain to the priest.
Overview
The firstfruits offering acknowledged that the whole harvest came from God and belonged first to Him. Bringing the first sheaf was an act of trust that the full crop would follow. The New Testament calls the risen Christ 'the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,' the pledge of the believer's resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Exod 34:26Bring 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.”
- 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.
- Num 15:18–21“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land to which I am bringing you
- 1 Cor 15:20–23But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
- Jas 1:18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.
- Num 28:26On the day of firstfruits, when you present an offering of new grain to the LORD during the Feast of Weeks, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.
- Deut 16:9You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.
- 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.
- Exod 22:29You must not hold back offerings from your granaries or vats. You are to give Me the firstborn of your sons.
- Lev 23:17Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD.
- Prov 3:9–10Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
- Lev 2:12–16You 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.
- Exod 23:16You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.
- Exod 34:22And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
- Num 15:2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land that I am giving you as a home
- Ezek 44:30The best of all the firstfruits and of every contribution from all your offerings will belong to the priests. You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest, so that a blessing may rest upon your homes.
- Lev 14:34“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a contamination of mildew into a house in that land,
- Rom 11:16If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
- Josh 3:15Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,
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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 23:10 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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