Back to Exodus 34

Exodus 34:20

You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.

  • KJV King James Version

    But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty.

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Commandments (1)

The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.

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Cross-references (9)

Passages linked to Exodus 34:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Exodus 13:13 Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons.
  • Exodus 23:15 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.
  • Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty.
  • Exodus 13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, Yahweh killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of livestock. Therefore I sacrifice to Yahweh all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
  • Numbers 18:15 Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and animal, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.
  • 1 Samuel 9:7-8 Then Saul said to his servant, “But, behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.”
  • Exodus 13:10 You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
  • Numbers 3:45-51 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am Yahweh. For the redemption of the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel who exceed the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels apiece for each one; according to the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs); and you shall give the money, with which their remainder is redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons.” Moses took the redemption money from those who exceeded the number of those who were redeemed by the Levites; from the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, according to Yahweh’s word, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
  • 2 Samuel 24:24 The king said to Araunah, “No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (5 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Without offering something.

Without offering something.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 34:20 But the firstling of an ass thou…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Either without a gift to me, so it is…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks,.... The…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) The firstling of an ass.—See Notes 1-3 on…

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