Leviticus 23:12
in Leviticus 23On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah.
KJV
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
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This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
4 notes on this verseAnd ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf,.... Besides the daily sacrifice of the morning and evening, and the additional offerings made on everyone of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread: an he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord; typical of the perfect and immaculate Lamb of God, whose sufferings are fitly signified by a burnt offering; and which were endured at the time he became the firstfruits of his people, and sanctified them.
This site's exposition
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf
on Leviticus 23:12-14
A lamb, fine flour with oil and a fourth part of an hin of wine go up with the sheaf, so the first of the grain is never presented on its own. Nothing of the new crop may be eaten until the offering has gone in, and verse 14 names bread, parched corn and green ears to close every way round it. Paul calls Christ the firstfruits of them that slept at 1 Corinthians 15:20 and repeats it at 15:23, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that he rose on the day the sheaf was waved.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
As the sacrifice of animals was generally attended with meat-offerings, so this sacrifice of corn was attended with a burnt-offering, that bread and flesh might be set together on God's table. They are forbidden to eat of their new corn till this handful was offered to God; for it was fit, if God and Israel feast together, that he should be served first.
This sheaf of first-fruits was typical of our Lord Jesus, who has risen from the dead as the first-fruits of those that slept, 1 Cor. xv. That branch of the Lord ( Isa. iv. 2 ) was then presented to him, in virtue of the sacrifice of himself, the Lamb of God, and it was accepted for us.
How the passage was read
On Leviticus 23:1-44On Leviticus 23:1-44
The year Israel keeps
This chapter is the calendar of the whole Jewish year, and every feast in it is still on the calendar today. In order: the weekly Sabbath; Passover and Unleavened Bread in spring (now kept as the seder meal and a week without leavened bread); Firstfruits (the first sheaf of barley waved before God); Weeks, in Hebrew Shavuot, fifty days later (Christians know the Greek name: Pentecost); then in autumn the Day of Trumpets (now Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, announced by the ram's-horn trumpet called a shofar), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, the great fast), and Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot, when families still build and eat in leafy backyard booths for a week, remembering the wilderness.
So when the New Testament says Jesus or Paul went up for “the feast,” it means one of these appointments: the same calendar, kept for over three thousand years.
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
ומנחתו AND THE MEAL OFFERING THEREOF — i. e. the usual meal-offering that was brought together with its drink-offering,
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
ON THE MORROW AFTER ‘HA’SHABBATH’ THE PRIEST SHALL WAVE IT. “That is, the morrow after the first day of the Festival of Passover.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study of all seven) · Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 (the four new years)
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֕ם | vaasitem | and you will offer | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בְּי֥וֹם | beyom | on [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הֲנִֽיפְכֶ֖ם | hanifkhem | wave you | H5130 → | 37 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָעֹ֑מֶר | haomer | the sheaf | H6016 → | 14 times |
| כֶּ֣בֶשׂ | keves | a male lamb | H3532 → | 107 times |
| תָּמִ֧ים | tamim | unblemished | H8549 → | 91 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| שְׁנָת֛וֹ | shenato | year its | H8141 → | 877 times |
| לְעֹלָ֖ה | leolah | to a burnt offering | H5930 → | 287 times |
| לַיהוָֽה׃ | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֕םand you will offer
vaasitemH6213 →2628 times
בְּי֥וֹםon [the] day
beyomH3117 →2304 times
הֲנִֽיפְכֶ֖םwave you
hanifkhemH5130 →37 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָעֹ֑מֶרthe sheaf
haomerH6016 →14 times
כֶּ֣בֶשׂa male lamb
kevesH3532 →107 times
תָּמִ֧יםunblemished
tamimH8549 →91 times
בֶּן־a son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
שְׁנָת֛וֹyear its
shenatoH8141 →877 times
לְעֹלָ֖הto a burnt offering
leolahH5930 →287 times
לַיהוָֽה׃to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 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
1 Peter 1:19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.
it leads to
- 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- 1 Peter 2:22–24
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”
- John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- Hebrews 9:12–14
He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
- Revelation 5:9
And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and…
- 1 John 1:7
Through
Leviticus 1:10If, however, one’s offering is a burnt offering from the flock—from the sheep or goats—he is to present an unblemished male.
it leads to
- Leviticus 1:2–3
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the LORD, you may bring as your offering an animal from the herd or the flock.
- Leviticus 22:19
must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.
- Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
- Leviticus 1:2–3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Leviticus
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.