Deuteronomy 15:20
in Deuteronomy 15Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt eat it before Jehovah thy God year by year in the place which Jehovah shall choose, thou and thy household.
KJV
Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 15
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male
on Deuteronomy 15:19-20
Numbers 18:15-18 gave the firstlings' flesh to the priests, while this chapter has the owner's household eating it before the LORD each year. Keil and Delitzsch read Deuteronomy as the sacrificial meal the offerer shares, not the priest's portion. Forbidding work with the ox and shearing of the flock stops an owner drawing profit from an animal already given away.
This site's exposition
Each year you and your household
The firstling goes up with the household once a year, and 14:23 sets the firstborn of herd and flock at the same table as the tithe. Elkanah's house kept an annual sacrifice at 1 Samuel 1:21. Albert Barnes reads the chapter as assuming the older firstborn law of Numbers 18:15.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God, year by year,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt eat it - in the place which the Lord shall choose - Thus God in his mercy made their duty and interest go hand in hand. And in every case God acts thus with his creatures; well, therefore, might Satan ask, Doth Job serve God for naught? No! nor does God design that any man should.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִפְנֵי֩ | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יְהוָ֨ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֤יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| תֹאכֲלֶ֙נּוּ֙ | tokhalenu | you will eat it | H398 → | 810 times |
| שָׁנָ֣ה | shanah | a year | H8141 → | 877 times |
| בְשָׁנָ֔ה | veshanah | in a year | H8141 → | 877 times |
| בַּמָּק֖וֹם | bamakom | in the place | H4725 → | 401 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יִבְחַ֣ר | yivchar | he will choose | H977 → | 171 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אַתָּ֖ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| וּבֵיתֶֽךָ׃ | uveitekha | and household your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
לִפְנֵי֩<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
יְהוָ֨הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֤יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
תֹאכֲלֶ֙נּוּ֙you will eat it
tokhalenuH398 →810 times
שָׁנָ֣הa year
shanahH8141 →877 times
בְשָׁנָ֔הin a year
veshanahH8141 →877 times
בַּמָּק֖וֹםin the place
bamakomH4725 →401 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
יִבְחַ֣רhe will choose
yivcharH977 →171 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אַתָּ֖הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
וּבֵיתֶֽךָ׃and household your
uveitekhaH1004 →2046 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 12:17Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give,…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 26:14
I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God;…
- Deuteronomy 14:22–29
You must be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year from your fields.
- Deuteronomy 12:6
To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
- Deuteronomy 12:26
But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose.
- Deuteronomy 26:12
When you have finished laying aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and…
- Deuteronomy 26:14
Through
Deuteronomy 14:23And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 12:5–7
Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Deuteronomy 12:17–18
Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give,…
- Deuteronomy 15:19–20
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…
- Deuteronomy 12:5–7
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.