Exodus 22:30

You shall do likewise with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day you are to give them to Me.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh commands Israel regarding the dedication of firstborn cattle and sheep immediately after directing the surrender of firstborn sons and harvest offerings.

The words — The text uses כֵּן (ken, "thus") and תַּעֲשֶׂה (ta'aseh, "you will do") to bind this livestock rule to the preceding command, while שִׁבְעַת יָמִים (shiv'at yamim, "seven days") and עִם (im, "with") specify the required period of maternal proximity.

The thread — This seven-day maternal period before dedication is repeated in Leviticus 22:27, and the broader mandate to surrender firstborn males to God appears in Deuteronomy 15:19 and Exodus 13:12.

Why it lands — The text commands a literal seven-day wait before surrendering firstborn livestock to God, prohibiting immediate disposal or consumption. Readers must observe this fixed interval without treating the animals as property to be exchanged or used before the designated day.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

כֵּֽן־ken-thus תַּעֲשֶׂ֥הta.'a.Sehyou will do לְשֹׁרְךָ֖le./sho.re./Khato/ ox/ your לְצֹאנֶ֑ךָle./tzo.Ne./khato/ sheep/ your שִׁבְעַ֤תshiv.'Atseven יָמִים֙ya.Mimdays יִהְיֶ֣הyih.Yehit will be עִם־'im-with אִמּ֔וֹ'i.M/omother/ its בַּיּ֥וֹםba/i.Yomon the/ day הַשְּׁמִינִ֖יha./she.mi.Ni<the>/ eighth תִּתְּנוֹ־ti.te.no/v-you will give/ itלִֽי׃L/ito <the>/ me

King James Version

Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.

Cross-references

Leviticus 22:27 “When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the LORD.
Deuteronomy 15:19 You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.
Exodus 13:12 you are to present to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.
Leviticus 12:3 And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised.