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Leviticus 23:20

in Leviticus 23

The priest is to wave the lambs as a wave offering before the LORD, together with the bread of the firstfruits. The bread and the two lambs shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave-offering before Jehovah, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest.

KJV

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.

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This verse in Leviticus 23

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
And the priests shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits,.... The two loaves called the two wave loaves, Lev 23:17; with which were waved the two lambs of the peace offerings; and these alive, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom intimate.

This site's exposition

Along with the bread you are to present seven unblemished male lambs

on Leviticus 23:18-20

The fiftieth day carries the fullest set of offerings named for any single day in the chapter. Burnt, meat, drink, sin and peace offerings all fall on one date.

This site's exposition

holy to the LORD for the priest

John Gill, following the medieval Jewish commentators Jarchi and Ben Gersom, holds that the two lambs were waved alive together with the loaves. The waving joins the peace offering of verse 19 to the bread of verse 17. Both then pass to the priest.

How the passage was read

On Leviticus 23:1-44

On 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.

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)

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.

  • וְהֵנִ֣יףand he will wave

    vehenifH5130 →37 times

  • הַכֹּהֵ֣ן׀the priest

    hakohenH3548 →750 times

  • אֹתָ֡ם<obj.> them

    ʾotamH853 →10935 times

  • עַל֩with

    ʾalH5921 →5755 times

  • לֶ֨חֶם[the] bread of

    lechemH3899 →298 times

  • הַבִּכּוּרִ֤יםthe first-fruits

    habikurimH1061 →17 times

  • תְּנוּפָה֙a wave-offering

    tenufahH8573 →30 times

  • לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before

    lifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • עַל־with

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • שְׁנֵ֖יtwo

    sheneiH8147 →768 times

  • כְּבָשִׂ֑יםmale lambs

    kevasimH3532 →107 times

  • קֹ֛דֶשׁa holy thing

    kodeshH6944 →469 times

  • יִהְי֥וּthey will be

    yihyuH1961 →3559 times

  • לַיהוָ֖הto Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • לַכֹּהֵֽן׃for the priest

    lakohenH3548 →750 times

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

Related verses

14 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Deuteronomy 18:4You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.3 worksLeviticus 10:14–15And you and your sons and daughters may eat the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution in a ceremonially clean place, because these portions have been assigned to you and your children from the peace offerings of the sons of Israel.2 worksEphesians 2:14For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility2 worksNumbers 18:8–12Then the LORD said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.2 worksLeviticus 23:17Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD.2 works1 Corinthians 9:11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?2 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
Luke 2:14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”2 worksExodus 29:24Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering.2 worksLeviticus 7:29–34“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Anyone who presents a peace offering to the LORD must bring it as his sacrifice to the LORD.2 worksLeviticus 8:29He also took the breast—Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination—and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering, as the LORD had commanded him.2 worksEzekiel 48:14They must not sell or exchange any of it, and they must not transfer this best part of the land, for it is holy to the LORD.2 worksLeviticus 2:14If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer crushed heads of new grain roasted on the fire.2 worksNumbers 15:20From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor.2 worksNumbers 18:12I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.2 works

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

    Ephesians 2:14

    For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility

    it leads to

    • Galatians 3:28

      There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

    • Colossians 3:15

      Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.

    • Colossians 3:11

      Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

    • Ephesians 2:15

      by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

    • 1 Corinthians 12:12–13

      The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

  • Through

    Leviticus 23:17

    Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD.

    it leads to

    • 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…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 18:4

    You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 18:12–24

      I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.

    • Exodus 22:29

      You must not hold back offerings from your granaries or vats. You are to give Me the firstborn of your sons.

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 23 →

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Read on in Leviticus 23 →