This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons forever.
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Deuteronomy 18:3-5 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The priests and the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons forever.
Parallel Translations
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This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.
You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep.
For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons forever.
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And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.
For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
Show all 3 translations
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And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
The first-fruits of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.
For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (4)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (19)
- Leviticus 7:30-34 (v3) With his own hands he shall bring the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be…
- Deuteronomy 10:8 (v5) At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to…
- Exodus 22:29 (v4) “You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. “You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me.
- Exodus 23:19 (v4) You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its…
- Leviticus 23:10 (v4) “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then…
Show all 19 cross-references
- Leviticus 23:17 (v4) You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be…
- Numbers 3:10 (v5) You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood, but the stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
- Numbers 18:12-24 (v4) “I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to…
- Deuteronomy 12:27 (v3) You shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on Yahweh your God’s altar. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out…
- 2 Chronicles 31:4-10 (v4) Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves…
- Nehemiah 12:44-47 (v4) On that day, men were appointed over the rooms for the treasures, for the wave offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to…
- Exodus 28:1-14 (v5) “Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s…
- Numbers 16:5 (v5) He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to…
- Numbers 16:9-10 (v5) Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do…
- Numbers 17:5-9 (v5) It shall happen that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud. I will make the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they…
- Deuteronomy 17:12 (v5) The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even…
- Deuteronomy 26:9-10 (v4) and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Now, behold, I have brought the…
- Numbers 25:13 (v5) It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made…
- Job 21:20 (v4) Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v3 The right shoulder, Num. 28:18.
The right shoulder, Num. 28:18.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v4 Deu 18:4 The firstfruit [also] of thy corn, of…
Deu 18:4 The firstfruit [also] of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.
Ver. 4. The firstfruits also.] Pliny tells us, {a} that among the Romans also no man might taste of his own corn, wine, or other fruits, priusquam Sacerdotes primitias libassent, till the priests had offered the firstfruits, and made their use of them.
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{a} Plin., Hist., lib. xviii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 A sacrifice, to wit, a sacrifice of thanksgiving, or…
A sacrifice, to wit, a sacrifice of thanksgiving, or a peace-offering, as appears from Lev 7:31,33, which is ofttimes called simply a sacrifice, as Exo 18:12; Lev 17:5,8; Num 15:3; Deu 12:27.
The shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
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Quest. How doth this agree with other texts, in which the shoulder and the breast, and those parts only, are the priest’s due, not the cheeks and maw?
Answ.
1. Who shall tie God’s hands? what if he now makes an addition, and enlargeth the priest’s commons? Nothing more usual than for one scripture to supply what is lacking in another, and for a latter law of God to add to a former.
2. The breast may be here omitted, because it is comprehended under the shoulder, to which it is commonly joined, and with which it was waved before the Lord.
3. The Hebrew word here rendered maw or stomach, which was reckoned among dainties by the ancients, is not to my remembrance used elsewhere, and therefore it may have another signification, and some render it the breast, others take it for the uppermost part of the stomach, which lies under the breast.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–5 And this shall be the priest's due from the…
And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer sacrifice,.... Not from the priests, as Jarchi observes, but from those that bring the sacrifices to the priests, particularly the peace offerings:
whether it be ox or sheep; the one of the herd, the other of the flock, creatures used in sacrifice, and takes in goats and the kids of them, rams and lambs:
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and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw; the first of these designs the upper part of the arm that joins to the neck and back, and the next the two cheeks with the tongue, as both Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, and indeed the whole head is meant; the maw, which the Septuagint interpreters call and other writers is, according to the philosopher (p), the fourth and last ventricle or stomach, and which he thus describes;"after the echinus or rough tripe is that which is called the maw, which is in size larger than the echinus, and in form longer, and has many large and smooth folds;''and , the maw of an ox, and the belly of a swine, are reckoned by the poet (q) as delicious food.
(p) Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 17. (q) Aristophan. Equites, Act. 1. Sc. 3. p. 307. & Act. 4. Sc. 1. p. 355.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v3 The maw - The Hebrew word here rendered maw…
The maw - The Hebrew word here rendered maw or stomach, may have another signification, and some render it the breast, others take it for the part, which lies under the breast.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Verse 3. Offer a sacrifice] זבחי הזבח zobechey hazzebach.…
Verse 3. Offer a sacrifice] זבחי הזבח zobechey hazzebach. The word זבח zebach is used to signify, not only an animal sacrificed to the Lord, but also one killed for common use. See Ge 46:1; Pr 17:1; Eze 39:17. And in this latter sense it probably should be understood here; and, consequently, the command in this verse relates to what the people were to allow the priests and Levites from the animals slain for common use. The parts to be given to the priests were,
1. The shoulder, probably cut off from the beast with the skin on; so Maimonides.
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2. The two cheeks, which may include the whole head.
3. The maw - the whole of those intestines which are commonly used for food.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v3 Deu 18:3. The maw — The Hebrew word here…
Deu 18:3. The maw — The Hebrew word here rendered maw, or stomach, may have another signification; and some render it the breast; others take it for the part which lies under the breast.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v3 For “maw” read stomach, which was regarded as one…
For “maw” read stomach, which was regarded as one of the richest and choicest parts. As the animal slain may be considered to consist of three principal parts, head, feet, and body, a portion of each is by the regulation in question to be given to the priest, thus representing the consecration of the whole; or, as some ancient commentators think, the dedication of the words, acts, and appetites of the worshipper to God.
The text probably refers to peace-offerings, and animals killed for the sacrificial meals held in connection with the peace-offerings.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Due, (judicium.) Moses only mentions a part, having explained…
Due, (judicium.) Moses only mentions a part, having explained the rest, Exodus xxix. 27., Leviticus vii. 32. --- Breast, (ventriculum.) In the other places pectusculum occurs. Hebrew, "the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw, or caul," called in Latin omasum, being the last and fattest of the four ventricles, and highly esteemed by the ancients. The cheeks or chaps are specified no where else; so that some think Moses here supplies what he had left imperfect, assigning to the priests the cheeks and tongue. Jansenius supposes that this is only a part of the breast, which appears to have two cheeks when the shoulders are cut off. But Moses here probably speaks not of the peace-offerings, but of the beasts which were killed by the Israelites at home for their own uses, &c., (Clerc) as Philo explains it, (de præm.) and Josephus ([Antiquities?] iv. 4) only specifies the right shoulder and the breast, which were given to the priests on these occasions. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "the shoulder, the cheeks, and the last ventricle." The victims were not, therefore, of a sacred nature; as they were only sacrificed, inasmuch as the blood was to be offered to the Lord. (Haydock) See Genesis xliii. 16.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v3 this shall be the priest's due from the people--All…
this shall be the priest's due from the people--All who offered sacrifices of thanksgiving or peace offerings (Lev 7:31-33) were ordered to give the breast and shoulder as perquisites to the priests. Here "the two cheeks" or head and "the maw" or stomach, deemed anciently a great dainty, are specified. But whether this is a new injunction, or a repetition of the old with the supplement of more details, it is not easy to determine.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–4 3. The gifts which are here mentioned are to…
3. The gifts which are here mentioned are to be given to the priests, for the distinction between priest and Levite is here observed.*
The shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw — By the word translated maw that stomach of ruminating animals which was considered a special delicacy is meant. “Of each of the three parts of the animal some valuable piece was to be presented.” — Schultz.
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[* “The third verse, instead of containing, as some think, a modification of the old law, is simply a new regulation for the benefit of the priests just as they are about to enter the Promised Land.” — The Levitical Priests, by Samuel Ives Curtiss, p. 4.]
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. And this shall be the priests’ due, etc.]…
3. And this shall be the priests’ due, etc.] Heb. mishpaṭ, as in 1Sa_2:13, where render: and the priests’ due from the people.
from them that offer a sacrifice] Heb. slay, or sacrifice, a sacrifice, a comprehensive phrase including every victim offered at the Altar where alone sacrifice was valid. This precludes the various theories suggested with the view of reconciling D’s law with that of P (see next note), viz. (1) that the law refers not to animals offered at the Temple but to those slain for food at home (Deu_12:15 f.); (2) that it refers only to the eating of firstlings (Deu_12:17 f., Deu_15:20); (3) that it refers to more dues to the priests, additional to those prescribed in P.
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the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw] According to 1Sa_2:12-17 the earlier practice had been that the priest’s servant with a three-pronged fork took what he could for his master out of the caldron in which the victim was being boiled for the worshippers; and it was regarded as a sinful innovation when the sons of Eli demanded to receive their portions while the flesh was still raw, no doubt in order that they might secure certain definite parts of the animal. This claim the law in D now legalises, naming the pieces of the victim to be given to the priest. P represents a later development, and prescribes still better pieces, the breast and the right thigh (Lev_7:31 ff; Lev_10:14 f., Num_18:18). For the gradual increase of the priests’ dues and of their other sources of revenue from D onwards, see Jerusalem, i. 354–366.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–5 In addition to the firstfruits already prescribed by the…
In addition to the firstfruits already prescribed by the Law to be given to the priests, (Num_18:12, Num_18:13) Moses here enacts that the first fleece of the sheep shall be given. All these, though legally prescribed, were free gifts on the part of the people; the neglect of the prescription incurred only moral blame, not judicial penalty.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 the inner parts
the inner parts
This is the stomach and intestines.
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you must give him
"you must give to the priest"
has chosen him
Here "him" represents all the Levites. (See: Metonymy)
to stand to serve in the name of Yahweh
Here "the name of Yahweh" stands for Yahweh himself and his authority. AT: "to be his special servants" or "to serve as a representative of Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)
him and his sons forever
Here "him" represents all the Levites. AT: "the Levites and their descendants forever" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
priest
sacrifice
cow
ewe
firstfruits
grain
wine
oil
Yahweh
God
tribe
servant
name
eternity
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 18:3 In the dietary fare of ancient Israel, the…
18:3 In the dietary fare of ancient Israel, the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach of oxen and sheep were the choice cuts. God’s priestly servants were to be honored by receiving the very best (see Lev 7:28-34).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.