Deuteronomy 16:10

16:10 Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks ¹  before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering ²  that you will bring, in proportion to how he ³  has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 18:4

18:4 You must give them the best of your ⁴  grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks.

Exodus 23:16

23:16 “You are also to observe ⁵  the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year ⁶  when you have gathered in ⁷  your harvest ⁸  out of the field.

Exodus 23:19

23:19 The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God.

“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. ⁹ 

Exodus 34:26

34:26 “The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God.

You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” ¹⁰ 

Leviticus 2:12

2:12 You can present them to the Lord as an offering of first fruit, ¹¹  but they must not go up to the altar for a soothing aroma.

Leviticus 2:14

2:14 “‘If you present a grain offering of first ripe grain to the Lord, you must present your grain offering of first ripe grain as soft kernels roasted in fire – crushed bits of fresh grain. ¹² 

Numbers 18:12-13

18:12 “All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you. ¹³  18:13 And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Numbers 18:2

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹⁴  with you and minister to you while ¹⁵  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 4:42

4:42 Those numbered from the families of the Merarites, by their families, by their clans,

Numbers 4:2

4:2 “Take a census ¹⁶  of the Kohathites from among the Levites, by their families and by their clans,

Numbers 31:5

31:5 So a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for battle in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.

Nehemiah 10:35-37

10:35 We also accept responsibility for ¹⁷  bringing the first fruits of our land and the first fruits of every fruit tree year by year to the temple of the LORD. 10:36 We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God. 10:37 We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce ¹⁸  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ¹⁹ 

Nehemiah 12:44

12:44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, first fruits, and tithes, to gather into them from ²⁰  the fields of the cities the portions prescribed by the law for the priests and the Levites, for the people of Judah ²¹  took delight in the priests and Levites who were ministering. ²² 

Nehemiah 13:31

13:31 I also provided for ²³  the wood offering at the appointed times and also for the first fruits.

Please remember me for good, O my God.

Proverbs 3:9-10

3:9 Honor ²⁴  the Lord from your wealth

and from the first fruits of all your crops; ²⁵ 

3:10 then your barns will be filled completely, ²⁶ 

and your vats ²⁷  will overflow ²⁸  with new wine.

Jeremiah 2:3

2:3 Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. ²⁹  All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 20:40

20:40 For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them ³⁰  in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things.

Ezekiel 44:30

44:30 The first of all the first fruits and all contributions of any kind ³¹  will be for the priests; you will also give to the priest the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house.

Ezekiel 48:14

48:14 They must not sell or exchange any of it; they must not transfer this choice portion of land, for it is set apart ³²  to the Lord.

Romans 8:23

8:23 Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, ³³  groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, ³⁴  the redemption of our bodies. ³⁵ 

Romans 11:16

11:16 If the first portion ³⁶  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ³⁷ 

Romans 16:5

16:5 Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, ³⁸  who was the first convert ³⁹  to Christ in the province of Asia. ⁴⁰ 

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ⁴¹  of the church in Cenchrea,

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ⁴²  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ⁴³  without shifting ⁴⁴  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴⁵  brothers and sisters ⁴⁶  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴⁷  from God our Father! ⁴⁸ 

James 1:18

1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ⁴⁹  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Revelation 14:4

14:4 These are the ones who have not defiled themselves ⁵⁰  with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb,

[16:10]  ¹ tn The Hebrew phrase חַג שָׁבֻעוֹת (khag shavu’ot) is otherwise known in the OT (Exod 23:16) as קָצִיר (qatsir, “harvest”) and in the NT as πεντηχοστή (penthcosth, “Pentecost”).

[16:10]  ² tn Heb “the sufficiency of the offering of your hand.”

[16:10]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[18:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).

[23:16]  ⁵ tn The words “you are also to observe” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ⁶ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the going in of the year.” The word “year” is the subjective genitive, the subject of the clause.

[23:16]  ⁷ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the ingathering of you.”

[23:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced – the harvest.

[23:19]  ⁹ sn On this verse, see C. M. Carmichael, “On Separating Life and Death: An Explanation of Some Biblical Laws,” HTR 69 (1976): 1-7; J. Milgrom, “You Shall Not Boil a Kid in Its Mother’s Milk,” BRev 1 (1985): 48-55; R. J. Ratner and B. Zuckerman, “In Rereading the ‘Kid in Milk’ Inscriptions,” BRev 1 (1985): 56-58; and M. Haran, “Seething a Kid in Its Mother’s Milk,” JJS 30 (1979): 23-35. Here and at 34:26, where this command is repeated, it ends a series of instructions about procedures for worship.

[34:26]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on this same command in 23:19.

[2:12]  ¹¹ sn The “first fruit” referred to here was given to the priests as a prebend for their service to the Lord, not offered on the altar (Num 18:12).

[2:14]  ¹² tn The translation of this whole section of the clause is difficult. Theoretically, it could describe one, two, or three different ways of preparing first ripe grain offerings (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 27). The translation here takes it as a description of only one kind of prepared grain. This is suggested by the fact that v. 16 uses only one term “crushed bits” (גֶּרֶשׂ, geres) to refer back to the grain as it is prepared in v. 14 (a more technical translation is “groats”; see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:178, 194). Cf. NAB “fresh grits of new ears of grain”; NRSV “coarse new grain from fresh ears.”

[18:12]  ¹³ tn This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve – he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive.

[18:2]  ¹⁴ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ¹⁵ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lift up the head.” The form נָשֹׂא (naso’) is the Qal infinitive absolute functioning here as a pure verb form. This serves to emphasize the basic verbal root idea (see GKC 346 §113.bb).

[10:35]  ¹⁷ tn The words “we accept responsibility” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are inferred from v. 33 (so also in v. 37).

[10:37]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “of our work.”

[12:44]  ²⁰ tc The translation reads מִשְּׂדֶי (missÿde, “from the fields”) rather than the MT reading לִשְׂדֵי (lisdey, “to the fields”).

[12:44]  ²¹ tn Heb “for Judah.” The words “the people of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, since “Judah” is a proper name as well as a place name.

[12:44]  ²² tn Heb “standing.”

[13:31]  ²³ tn The words “I also provided for” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[3:9]  ²⁴ tn The imperative כַּבֵּד (kabbed, “honor”) functions as a command, instruction, counsel or exhortation. To honor God means to give him the rightful place of authority by rendering to him gifts of tribute. One way to acknowledge God in one’s ways (v. 6) is to honor him with one’s wealth (v. 9).

[3:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “produce.” The noun תְּבוּאָה (tÿvu’ah) has a two-fold range of meaning: (1) “product; yield” of the earth (= crops; harvest) and (2) “income; revenue” in general (BDB 100 s.v.). The imagery in vv. 9-10 is agricultural; however, all Israelites – not just farmers – were expected to give the best portion (= first fruits) of their income to Lord.

[3:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “with plenty” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “to overflowing.” The noun שָׂבָע (sava’, “plenty; satiety”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner or contents: “completely.”

[3:10]  ²⁷ sn This pictures the process of pressing grapes in which the upper receptacle is filled with grapes and the lower one catches the juice. The harvest of grapes will be so plentiful that the lower vat will overflow with grape juice. The pictures in v. 10 are metonymies of effect for cause (= the great harvest that God will provide when they honor him).

[3:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “burst open.” The verb פָּרַץ (parats, “to burst open”) functions as hyperbole here to emphasize the fullness of the wine vats (BDB 829 s.v. 9).

[2:3]  ²⁹ sn Heb “the first fruits of his harvest.” Many commentators see the figure here as having theological significance for the calling of the Gentiles. It is likely, however, that in this context the metaphor – here rendered as a simile – is intended to bring out the special relationship and inviolability that Israel had with God. As the first fruits were the special possession of the Lord, to be eaten only by the priests and off limits to the common people, so Israel was God’s special possession and was not to be “eaten” by the nations.

[20:40]  ³⁰ tn Heb “all of it.”

[44:30]  ³¹ tn Heb has in addition “from your contributions,” a repetition unnecessary in English.

[48:14]  ³² tn Or “holy.”

[8:23]  ³³ tn Or “who have the Spirit as firstfruits.” The genitive πνεύματος (pneumatos) can be understood here as possessive (“the firstfruits belonging to the Spirit”) although it is much more likely that this is a genitive of apposition (“the firstfruits, namely, the Spirit”); cf. TEV, NLT.

[8:23]  ³⁴ tn See the note on “adoption” in v. 15.

[8:23]  ³⁵ tn Grk “body.”

[11:16]  ³⁶ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ³⁷ sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.

[16:5]  ³⁸ sn The spelling Epenetus is also used by NIV, NLT; the name is alternately spelled Epaenetus (NASB, NKJV, NRSV).

[16:5]  ³⁹ tn Grk “first fruit.” This is a figurative use referring to Epenetus as the first Christian convert in the region.

[16:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[16:1]  ⁴¹ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:20]  ⁴² tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:23]  ⁴³ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ⁴⁴ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁸ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”

[14:4]  ⁵⁰ tn The aorist passive verb is rendered as a reflexive (“defiled themselves”) by BDAG 657 s.v. μολύνω 2.