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mannafest.faith

Exodus 34:20

in Exodus 34

You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

KJV

But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

This verse in Exodus 34

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Moses bowed . . . and worshipped--In the East, people bow the head to royalty, and are silent when it passes by, while in the West, they take off their hats and shout.

This site's exposition

The first offspring of every womb belongs to Me

on Exodus 34:19-20

The claim on the firstborn goes back to the night in Egypt, where 13:2 said Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The donkey is redeemed with a lamb or its neck is broken, so an unclean animal lives because a clean one dies in its place.

This site's exposition

No one shall appear before Me empty-handed

The rule that no one appear before the LORD empty-handed closed the feast law of 23:15. John Gill applies it to the three feasts, Unleavened Bread, Weeks and Ingathering, when all the males appear three times a year. Deuteronomy 16:17 sets the gift by what each can give.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem,.... This goes along with the former; see Gill on Exo 13:13, and none shall appear before me empty; at the grand festivals, the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles; see Gill on Exo 13:15.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

This feast was instituted, ch. xii. 13 , and urged again, ch. xxiii. The feast of weeks, that is, that of pentecost, seven weeks after the passover; and to this is annexed the law of the first-fruits.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וּפֶ֤טֶרand [the] firstborn of

    ufeterH6363 →12 times

  • חֲמוֹר֙a donkey

    chamorH2543 →96 times

  • תִּפְדֶּ֣הyou will redeem

    tifdehH6299 →59 times

  • בְשֶׂ֔הwith a sheep

    vesehH7716 →47 times

  • וְאִם־and if

    veim-H518 →1069 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִפְדֶּ֖הyou will redeem [it]

    tifdehH6299 →59 times

  • וַעֲרַפְתּ֑וֹand you will break neck its

    vaaraftoH6202 →

  • כֹּ֣לall

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • בְּכ֤וֹר[the] firstborn of

    bekhorH1060 →122 times

  • בָּנֶ֙יךָ֙sons your

    baneikhaH1121 →4930 times

  • תִּפְדֶּ֔הyou will redeem

    tifdehH6299 →59 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יֵרָא֥וּpeople will present themselves

    yerauH7200 →1300 times

  • פָנַ֖יface my

    fanaiH6440 →2123 times

  • רֵיקָֽם׃empty

    reikamH7387 →16 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 16:16

    Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast…

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 3:9–10

      Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 96:8

      Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and enter His courts.

    • Haggai 1:9

      You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you…

    • Exodus 23:14–17

      Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

    • Matthew 2:11

      On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense…

  • Through

    Exodus 13:15

    And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of man and beast. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the firstborn…

    it leads to

    • Exodus 12:29

      Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon,…

  • Through

    Exodus 23:15

    You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was…

    it leads to

    • Luke 22:7

      Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed.

    • Numbers 28:16–25

      The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.