Bible Strands
Leviticus 2:12
You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they must not go up on the altar as a pleasing aroma.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text records divine instruction delivered to Moses and the Israelite community regarding grain offering protocols. It occurs during the Sinai covenant ceremony where God establishes specific worship regulations for the assembled congregation.
The words — The verse centers on תַּקְרִ֥יבוּ (tak.Ri.vu), meaning "you will present," and רֵאשִׁ֛ית (re.Shit), meaning "first [fruit]." These terms designate the action as the deliberate presentation of the initial agricultural yield to Yahweh.
The thread — This restriction on burning certain firstfruits appears alongside the general firstfruits mandate in Exodus 23:19. The prohibition aligns with the immediate context in Leviticus 2:11, which bars leaven and honey from altar combustion, and contrasts with the requirement in Leviticus 2:13 to season all grain offerings with salt.
Why it lands — The text states that some firstfruits may be brought to Yahweh but are explicitly forbidden from burning on the altar as a pleasing aroma. It requires the worshiper to distinguish between gifts merely presented to God and those authorized for sacrificial consumption.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:19 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.
- Genesis 23:10 Now 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,
- Genesis 23:17 So 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
- Exodus 22:29 You must not hold back offerings from your granaries or vats. You are to give Me the firstborn of your sons.
- Exodus 23:10 For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,
- Leviticus 7:13 Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread.
- Leviticus 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.
- Deuteronomy 26:10 And 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.
- 2 Chronicles 31:5 As 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.
- Revelation 14:4 These 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.