Discovery BoxExodus 13:12 
Context13:12 then you must give over 1 to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. 2 Every firstling 3 of a beast that you have 4 – the males will be the Lord’s. 5
Exodus 23:19
Context23:19 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. 6
Exodus 25:35
Context25:35 with a bud under the first 7 two branches from it, and a bud under the next 8 two branches from it, and a bud under the third 9 two branches from it, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand.
Exodus 26:19
Context26:19 and you are to make forty silver bases to go under the twenty frames – two bases under the first frame for its two projections, and likewise 10 two bases under the next frame for its two projections;
Exodus 29:30
Context29:30 The priest who succeeds him 11 from his sons, when he first comes 12 to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. 13
Exodus 29:40
Context29:40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah 14 of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin 15 of oil from pressed olives, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
Exodus 34:4
Context34:4 So Moses 16 cut out two tablets of stone like the first; 17 early in the morning he went up 18 to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
Exodus 34:26
Context34:26 “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.” 19
Exodus 36:11-12
Context36:11 He made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in the first set; he did the same along the edge of the end curtain in the second set. 36:12 He made fifty loops on the first curtain, and he made fifty loops on the end curtain that was in the second set, with the loops opposite one another.
Exodus 36:17
Context36:17 He made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in the first set and fifty loops along the edge of the curtain that joined the second set.
Exodus 36:24
Context36:24 He made forty silver bases under the twenty frames – two bases under the first frame for its two projections, and likewise 20 two bases under the next frame for its two projections,
Exodus 37:21
Context37:21 with a bud under the first two branches from it, and a bud under the next two branches from it, and a bud under the third two branches from it; according to the six branches that extended from it. 21
1 tn The unusual choice of words in this passage reflects the connection with the deliverance of the firstborn in the exodus when the Lord passed over the Israelites (12:12, 23). Here the Law said, “you will cause to pass over (וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ, vÿha’avarta) to Yahweh.” The Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) provides the main clause after the temporal clauses. Yahweh here claimed the firstborn as his own. The remarkable thing about this is that Yahweh did not keep the firstborn that was dedicated to him, but allowed the child to be redeemed by his father. It was an acknowledgment that the life of the child belonged to God as the one redeemed from death, and that the child represented the family. Thus, the observance referred to the dedication of all the redeemed to God.
sn It was once assumed by some scholars that child sacrifice lay behind this text in the earlier days, but that the priests and prophets removed those themes. Apart from the fact that there is absolutely no evidence for anything like that, the Law forbade child sacrifice, and always used child sacrifice as the sample of what not to do in conformity with the pagans (e.g., Deut 12:31). Besides, how absurd would it be for Yahweh to redeem the firstborn from death and then ask Israel to kill them. See further B. Jacob, Exodus, 371.
2 tn Heb “every opener of a womb,” that is, the firstborn from every womb.
3 tn The descriptive noun שֶׁגֶר (sheger) is related to the verb “drop, cast”; it refers to a newly born animal that is dropped or cast from the womb. The expression then reads, “and all that first open [the womb], the casting of a beast.”
4 tn Heb “that is to you.” The preposition expresses possession.
5 tn The Hebrew text simply has “the males to Yahweh.” It indicates that the
6 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.
7 tn For clarity the phrase “the first” has been supplied.
8 tn For clarity the phrase “the next” has been supplied.
9 tn For clarity the phrase “the third” has been supplied.
10 tn The clause is repeated to show the distributive sense; it literally says, “and two bases under the one frame for its two projections.”
11 tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”
12 tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.
13 tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.
14 tn The phrase “of an ephah” has been supplied for clarity (cf. Num 28:5). The ephah was a commonly used dry measure whose capacity is now uncertain: “Quotations given for the ephah vary from ca. 45 to 20 liters” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 2:340-41).
15 tn “Hin” is a transliterated Hebrew word that seems to have an Egyptian derivation. The amount of liquid measured by a hin is uncertain: “Its presumed capacity varies from about 3,5 liters to 7,5 liters” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:550).
16 tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified here and the name “Moses,” which occurs later in this verse, has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”), both for stylistic reasons.
17 sn Deuteronomy says that Moses was also to make an ark of acacia wood before the tablets, apparently to put the tablets in until the sanctuary was built. But this ark may not have been the ark built later; or, it might be the wood box, but Bezalel still had to do all the golden work with it.
18 tn The line reads “and Moses got up early in the morning and went up.” These verbs likely form a verbal hendiadys, the first one with its prepositional phrase serving in an adverbial sense.
19 sn See the note on this same command in 23:19.
20 tn The clause is repeated to show the distributive sense; it literally says, “and two bases under the one frame for its two projections.”
21 tn As in Exod 26:35, the translation of “first” and “next” and “third” is interpretive, because the text simply says “under two branches” in each of three places.
