Deuteronomy 14:23

14:23 In the presence of the Lord your God you must eat from the tithe of your grain, your new wine, ¹  your olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the place he chooses to locate his name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.

Deuteronomy 21:17

21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ²  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ³  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ⁴  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

[14:23]  ¹ tn This refers to wine in the early stages of fermentation. In its later stages it becomes wine (יַיִן, yayin) in its mature sense.

[21:17]  ² tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.

[21:17]  ³ tn Heb “measure of two.” The Hebrew expression פִּי שְׁנַיִם (piy shÿnayim) suggests a two-thirds split; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one part. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).

[21:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “his generative power” (אוֹן, ’on; cf. HALOT 22 s.v.). Cf. NAB “the first fruits of his manhood”; NRSV “the first issue of his virility.”