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Numbers 18:13

in Numbers 18

The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will belong to you. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring unto Jehovah, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat thereof.

KJV

And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.

This verse in Numbers 18

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

I have put you in charge of My offerings

on Numbers 18:8-14

The portions follow two rules. In verses 9 and 10 every male may eat the most holy offerings. Every ceremonially clean person in the priest's household, daughters included, may eat the gifts and firstfruits of verses 11 to 13.

This site's exposition

The firstfruits of everything in their land

Verse 12 and this verse use two Hebrew words for firstfruits. Verse 12 has reshith, the first portion of oil, wine and grain already pressed and threshed. This verse has bikkurim, the first-ripe produce brought whole, as in the basket of Deuteronomy 26:1-11.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It is commanded that the best of the oil, and the best of the wine and wheat, should be offered for the first-fruits unto the Lord, which the priest were to have,

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:82%@v11-13

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Whatsoever is first ripe - Not only the first-fruits of the oil and wine, and wheat now mentioned, but all other first-fruits of all other grains, and all fruit trees.
And whatsoever is first ripe in the land,.... Of any other sort of fruit, figs, pomegranates, apples, plums, pears, &c. besides olives and vines: which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; which they shall bring in a basket to the tabernacle, where it was, or to the temple, when built: this the priests were to have, see Deu 26:2, everyone that is clean in thine house shall eat of it; See Gill on Num 18:11.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of my heave offerings--A recapitulation is made in this passage of certain perquisites specially appropriated to the maintenance of the priests.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

ראשיתם THE FIRST FRUITS OF THEM [WHICH THEY SHALL GIVE UNTO THE LORD; THEM I HAVE GIVEN THEE] — This refers to the “T’rumah Gedolah” (the priest’s portion of the produce which is the first portion to be set aside from the produce; cf. Deuteronomy:4).
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Numbers 18:12:1, via Sefaria, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934

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.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 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

13 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.

  • בִּכּוּרֵ֞י[the] first-fruits of

    bikureiH1061 →17 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֧רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בְּאַרְצָ֛ם[is] in land their

    beartzamH776 →2504 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • יָבִ֥יאוּthey will bring

    yaviuH935 →2568 times

  • לַיהוָ֖הto Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • לְךָ֣to <the> you

    lekha

  • יִהְיֶ֑הit will belong

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • כָּל־every

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • טָה֥וֹרclean [person]

    tahorH2889 →94 times

  • בְּבֵיתְךָ֖among household your

    beveitekhaH1004 →2046 times

  • יֹאכֲלֶֽנּוּ׃he will eat it

    yokhalenuH398 →810 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

    Micah 7:1

    Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

    it leads to

    • Hosea 9:10

      I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 28:4

      The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand…

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 34:26

      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.”

    • Deuteronomy 14:21

      You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are…

    • 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…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 24:2

    One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

    it leads to

    • Micah 7:1

      Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Exodus 22:29

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

    it leads to

    • Exodus 13:2

      “Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.”

    • Exodus 23:16

      You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year,…

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.