Reference: Firstborn
American
This phrase is not always to be understood literally; it is sometimes taken for the prime, most excellent, most distinguished of things, Ps 89:27; Ro 8:29; Heb 1:4-6. Thus Jesus Christ is "the firstborn of every creature," Col 1:15, inasmuch as he was the "Only begotten" of the Father before any creature was produced. He is "the firstborn from the dead," Col 1:18, because he is the beginning, and the author of the resurrection of all who die in faith.
After the destroying angel had slain the firstborn of the Egyptians, God ordained that all the Jewish firstborn, both of men and of beasts for service, should be consecrated to him; but the male children only were subject to this law. If a man had several wives, he was obliged to offer the firstborn son by each one of them to the Lord. The firstborn were offered at the temple, and redeemed for five shekels. The firstling of a clean beast was offered at the temple, not to be redeemed, but to be killed; an unclean beast, a horse, an ass, or a camel, was either redeemed or exchanged; an ass was redeemed by a lamb or five shekels; if not redeemed, it was killed, Ex 13:2,11, etc. The firstborn son among the Hebrews, as among all other nations, enjoyed particular privileges. See BIRTHRIGHT.
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Consecrate to me every first-born bursting open every womb among the sons of Israel, of man and of cattle: it is to me.
And it was when Jehovah shall bring thee to the land of the Canaanites, as he sware to thee and to thy fathers, and he gave it to thee.
Also I will give him the firstborn, the highest to the kings of the earth.
For whom he before knew, he also before determined of the form of the image of his Son, for him to be first born in many brethren.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that he might be the first in all
Being so much better than the angels, inasmuch as he has inherited a more distinguished name than they. For to which of the angels once said he, Thou art my Son, I have this day begotten thee? And again, I will be to him for Father, and he shall be to me for Son? read more. And when again he should bring in the firstborn to the habitable globe, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Fausets
(See BIRTHRIGHT.) Primogeniture gave princedom and priesthood in patriarchal times. So Esau and Jacob (Ge 25:23-33; Heb 12:16), Reuben (Ge 49:3; 1Ch 5:1). The oldest son in all Israelite families was regarded as sacred to God, because Israel's firstborn were exempted from the stroke which destroyed all the firstborn of Egypt on the first Passover night. The firstborn represented the whole people; Jehovah said to Pharaoh, "Israel is My son, My firstborn, and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve He; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, thy firstborn" (Ex 4:22-23). Israel, as Jehovah's firstborn, was designed to be a" kingdom of priests and an holy nation" (Ex 19:6).
It shall hereafter realize this high Calling in a degree that it has not yet realized it, standing as "the firstborn among many brethren" (like the antitypical Israel, Messiah, Ro 8:29; Heb 2:12), and priest among all nations, which in subordination to Jerusalem, the spiritual metropolis, shall be the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, then manifested (Isa 61:6; 66:21; Re 11:15; Zec 14:16; Jer 3:17). The tribe of Levi was substituted for all Israel's firstborn to minister to the Lord (Nu 3:12,45,50). There being 273 more of the firstborn in Israel than the males in Levi, the 273 were redeemed at five shekels apiece. Still, to mark the consecration of Israel to Jehovah, the redemption money was exacted for every firstborn (Nu 18:15). But the firstlings of cattle were to be offered to the Lord.
An donkey was however redeemed with a lamb, or else killed (Ex 13:13). Christ is the First-begotten. As such, He has the rights of primogeniture; for, as Heb 1:6 is in the Greek, "when God shall bring in again the First. begotten into the world, the shall be deemed worthy of not less honor, for "He saith (Ps 97:7), Let all the angels of God worship Him." His being "brought into the world" (oikoumenee, "the inhabited world"), as the theater of His power, mainly applies to His second advent. In (Col 1:16, "the Firstborn of every creature"; implying priority and superlative dignity. Ps 89:27, "My Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth," David's antitype, the Messiah.
See Col 1:16 (proototokos pasees ktiseoos, as Joh 1:15,30; 15:18, prootos mou, "long before Me"), "begotten long before every creature"; the reason why He is so designated follows, "for He is before all things." "First-begotten" marks at once His eternal priority and His condescending to brotherhood with us (Ro 8:29). "Only begotten" marks His relation to the Father by generation from everlasting. Since He is "long before every creature," He cannot be a creature Himself but the Creator. And as He is the first begotten, originating the natural creation, so He is "the firstborn (proototokos, 'first begotten,' Re 1:5) from ("out of", ek) the dead," and therefore "the Beginning" (Col 1:18) of "the church of the firstborn" (Heb 12:23), the originating Agent of the new creation.
He was "begotten" of the Father to a new life at His resurrection (the day when the Father fulfilled Ps 2:7 according to Ac 13:33; Ro 1:4) which is His "regeneration"; so He is "the Prince-leader (archeegos) of life." "Regeneration," begun in the soul now, will extend to the body at the resurrection of the saints; and to nature, now groaning under the curse (Mt 19:28; Lu 20:36; 1Jo 3:2; Ro 8:11,19,23). As He is "the firstborn" in relation to the election church, so it is "the church of the firstborn," "a kind of first-fruits of His creatures" (Jas 1:18), in relation to the millennial church, and to the hereafter to be regenerated natural creation. As Christ is "the firstfruits," earnest and pledge of the coming resurrection, so believers are "a kind of first-fruits," a pledge and earnest of the ultimate regeneration of creation.
As He is first begotten by generation from everlasting, so believers by adoptions, "begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible," etc. (1Pe 1:3.) As Israel, on the ground of being God's "firstborn," was a king-priestly nation, so believers (Re 1:6). The figurative phrase, "the firstborn of death," means the deadliest disease that death (personified) ever gendered (Job 18:13). "The firstborn of the poor," the poorest.
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And Jehovah will say to her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy belly: and a people shall be strong above a people, and the great shall serve the small. And her days shall be completed to bring forth; and behold, twins in her belly. read more. And the first shall come forth red, wholly as a mantle of hair: and they will call his name Esau. And after this, his brother will come forth, and his hand having laid hold upon Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaak the son of sixty years in her bringing them forth. And the boys will become great; and Esau will be a man knowing the chase, a man of the country; and Jacob an upright man, dwelling in tents. And Isaak will love Esau for the chase in his mouth: and Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob will boil a boiling, and Esau will come from the country, and he faint And Esau will say to Jacob, Give me now to eat from the red; this red, for I faint: for this he called his name Edom. And Jacob will say, Sell this day thy birth-right to me. And Esau will say, Behold, I am going to die, and what to me this birthright? And Jacob will say, Swear to me this day: and he will swear to him: and he will sell his birth-right to Jacob.
Reuben, my first-born, thou my strength, and the beginning of my strength, the abundance of elevation, and the abundance of might
And say thou to Pharaoh, So said Jehovah, my first-born son is Israel. And saying to thee, Send forth my son, and he shall save me: and shalt thou refuse to send him, behold me killing thy son, thy first-born.
And every first-born of the ass, thou shalt redeem with a sheep; and if thou shalt not redeem, thou shalt break his neck: and every first-born of man among thy sons thou shalt redeem.
And ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These the words which thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel.
And I, behold, I took the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of all the first-born cleaving the womb from the sons of Israel: and the Levites were to me.
Take the Levites instead of all the first-born of the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be to me: I Jehovah.
From the first-born of the sons of Israel he took the silver; five and sixty and three hundred and a thousand, according to the holy shekel.
Every thing cleaving the womb for all flesh, which they shall bring to Jehovah, in man or in cattle, shall be to thee: but redeeming, thou shalt redeem the first-born of man, and the firstborn of unclean cattle thou shalt redeem.
And it will be from the end of three days and the scribes will pass through in the midst of the camp.
It shall devour the bars of his skin: the first-born of death shall devour his bars.
I will recount for a law of Jehovah: He said to me, Thou my son; this day I begat thee.
Also I will give him the firstborn, the highest to the kings of the earth.
All serving a carved thing shall be ashamed, they boasting themselves in nothings; worship to him, all ye Gods.
And ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah, serving our God; he shall say to you, Ye shall eat the strength of the nations, and ye shall take place in their honor.
In that time they shall call to Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all nations assembled together to her to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: and they shall no more go after the stubbornness of their evil heart
And every one being left of all the nations coming against Jerusalem, and they went up from year to year to worship to the king, Jehovah of armies, to keep a festival, the festival of booths.
And Jesus said to them, Verily I say to you, That ye having followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man should sit upon the throne of his glory, shall be seated ye also upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
For neither can they die any more: for they are like to messengers; and are sons of God, being the sons of the rising up.
John testifies for him, and he tried, saying, This was he of whom I said, He coming after me was before me: for he was before me.
This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who was before me: for he was before me.
If the world hate you, know that it has hated me the first of you.
For this has God completed to us, their children, having raised up Jesus; as it has also been written in the second Psalms, Thou art my Son; to day have I begotten thee.
Determined the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the rising up of the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord:
And if the Spirit of him having raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he having raised up Christ from the dead will make alive also your mortal bodies by his Spirit dwelling in you.
For the anxious expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God.
And not only, but also they having the first fruits of the Spirit, and we ourselves groan in ourselves, waiting for the adoption as a son, the redemption of our body.
For whom he before knew, he also before determined of the form of the image of his Son, for him to be first born in many brethren.
For whom he before knew, he also before determined of the form of the image of his Son, for him to be first born in many brethren.
For by him were all things created, things in the heavens, and things upon earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones, whether dominions, whether beginnings, whether authorities: all were created by him, and for him:
For by him were all things created, things in the heavens, and things upon earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones, whether dominions, whether beginnings, whether authorities: all were created by him, and for him:
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that he might be the first in all
And when again he should bring in the firstborn to the habitable globe, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Saying, I will announce thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church will I praise thee.
Lest any fornicator, or profane, as Esau, who for one act of' eating sold his primogeniture.
To the assembly of people, and church of the firstborn, transcribed in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and. to the spirits of the just perfected,
Having willed he brought forth by the word of truth, for us to be some first fruit of his creatures.
Praised the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy having begotten us again to a living hope, by the rising up of Jesus Christ from the dead,
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the chief of the kings of the earth. To him having loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood, And he made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him the glory and strength for the times of times.
And the seventh angel sounded the trumpet; and great voices were in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world were our Lord's, and his Christ's; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Hastings
1. The dedication of the firstborn of men and beasts was probably a primitive nomadic custom, and therefore earlier than the offering of first-fruits, which could not arise until the Israelites had settled into agricultural life in Canaan. The origin of the belief that a peculiar value attached to the firstborn cannot be definitely traced; but it would be a natural inference that what was valuable to the parent would be valuable to his God. And thus the word 'firstborn' could be used figuratively of Israel as the firstborn of Jahweh among the nations (Ex 4:22, cf. Jer 31:9), and the seed of David among dynasties (Ps 89:28). The law of the dedication of the firstborn is found in Jewish Encyclopedia (Ex 13:11-16; 22:29 b, Ex 22:30; 34:19 f.), Deuteronomist (De 15:19-23), Priestly Narrative (Ex 13:1 f., Nu 3:11-13,40-51; 18:15-18). It is not impossible that in very primitive times firstborn sons were sometimes actually sacrificed (cf. 2Ki 3:27; Mic 6:7), but the practice would soon grow up of 'redeeming' them by money or payments in kind.
2. The firstborn (bekh
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And she will say to Abraham, Cast out this maid-servant and her son; for the son of this maid-servant shall not inherit with my son, with Isaak.
And Jehovah will say to her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy belly: and a people shall be strong above a people, and the great shall serve the small.
And Jacob will boil a boiling, and Esau will come from the country, and he faint And Esau will say to Jacob, Give me now to eat from the red; this red, for I faint: for this he called his name Edom. read more. And Jacob will say, Sell this day thy birth-right to me. And Esau will say, Behold, I am going to die, and what to me this birthright? And Jacob will say, Swear to me this day: and he will swear to him: and he will sell his birth-right to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau food, and the boiling of lentiles; and he will eat and drink and will rise and go forth: and Esau will despise the birth-right
And Joseph will take the two, Ephraim in his right hand from Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand from Israel's right hand, and will draw near to him. And Israel will put forth his right hand, and will place upon Ephraim's head, and he the small; and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, attending to his hands wisely; for Manasseh was the first-born. read more. And he will bless Joseph, and will say, God, before whom my fathers went, Abraham and Isaak, the God having fed me, from ever since I was till this day. The messenger redeeming me from all evil, shall bless the youths; and my name shall be called upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaak and they shall be increased into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And Joseph will see that his father will put his right hand upon Ephraim's head, and it will be evil in his eyes: and he will take hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph will say to his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father will refuse and will say, I knew my son, I knew: this also shall be into a people, and this also shall be great: and yet his brother the small, shall be great more than he, and his seed shall be a fulness of nations. And he will bless them in that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, Will God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he will set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Reuben, my first-born, thou my strength, and the beginning of my strength, the abundance of elevation, and the abundance of might
And say thou to Pharaoh, So said Jehovah, my first-born son is Israel.
And say thou to Pharaoh, So said Jehovah, my first-born son is Israel.
And Moses will say, Thou also shalt give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and we sacrificed to Jehovah our God.
And Moses will say, Thus said Jehovah, About the middle of the night I will go forth into the midst of Egypt And every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting upon his throne, even to the first-born of the maid which is behind the two mill-stones; and every first-born of quadruped. read more. And a great cry was in all the land of Egypt, such as was not, and such shall not be added. And against all the sons of Israel, a dog shall not sharpen his tongue, from man and even to cattle: so that ye shall know that Jehovah will separate between Egypt and between IsraeL And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and worship to me, saying, Go forth, thou, and all the people which are at thy feet: and after this I will go forth. And he will go forth from Pharaoh in the heat of anger.
And I passed over in the land of Egypt in this night, and I struck every first-born in the land of Egypt from man even to quadruped: and against all the gods of Egypt I will do judgments: I Jehovah.
And Jehovah passed over to strike the Egyptians; and he saw the blood upon the lintel, and upon the two doorposts, and Jehovah passed by the door and will not give him destroying to come in to your houses to strike.
And they said, This the sacrifice of the passing over to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt in his striking the Egyptians, and he delivered our houses. And the people will bow down and will worship.
And it will be in the middle of the night, and Jehovah struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting upon his throne, to the first-born of the captive which is in the house of the pit; and every first-born of the cattle.
And the people will take up their dough before it will be leavened, their kneading-bowls bound in their garments upon their shoulders.
Unleavened shall be eaten seven days: and leavened shall not be seen to thee in all thy bounds.
And it was when Jehovah shall bring thee to the land of the Canaanites, as he sware to thee and to thy fathers, and he gave it to thee.
And it was when Jehovah shall bring thee to the land of the Canaanites, as he sware to thee and to thy fathers, and he gave it to thee. And thou madest pass over all bursting open the womb, to Jehovah; and every one bursting forth young of the quadruped which shall be to thee; the males are to Jehovah.
And thou madest pass over all bursting open the womb, to Jehovah; and every one bursting forth young of the quadruped which shall be to thee; the males are to Jehovah. And every first-born of the ass, thou shalt redeem with a sheep; and if thou shalt not redeem, thou shalt break his neck: and every first-born of man among thy sons thou shalt redeem.
And every first-born of the ass, thou shalt redeem with a sheep; and if thou shalt not redeem, thou shalt break his neck: and every first-born of man among thy sons thou shalt redeem. And it was when thy son shall ask thee to-morrow, saying, What this? and thou saidst to him, With strength of hand Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt from the house of servants. read more. And it shall be when Pharaoh was hard to send us forth, and Jehovah will kill every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of man to the firstborn of cattle; for this I sacrifice to Jehovah all bursting forth the womb, the males; and all the first-born of my sons I will redeem. And it was for a sign upon thy hand, and for bands between thine eyes: for with a strong hand Jehovah brought us forth from Egypt
Thy fulness and thy tears thou shalt not delay: the first-born of thy sons thou shalt give to me. Thus shalt thou do to thine ox, to thy sheep: seven days shall it be with its mother; in the eighth day thou shalt give it to me.
All opening the womb is to me: all thy cattle, the male, the firstling of the ox or sheep.
So that your generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to dwell in tents in my bringing them out of the land of Egypt: I Jehovah your God.
And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, And I, behold, I took the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of all the first-born cleaving the womb from the sons of Israel: and the Levites were to me. read more. For to me all the first-born: in the day I struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to me every first-born in Israel, from man to cattle: to me they shall be: I am Jehovah.
And Jehovah will say to Moses, Review every first-born male to the sons of Israel, from the son of a month and above, and take up the number of names. And take the Levites for me (I Jehovah) instead of all the first-born of the sons of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the first-born among the cattle of the sons of Israel. read more. And Moses reviewed as Jehovah commanded him, all the first-born of the sons of Israel. And every first-born male shall be according to the number of names, from the son of a month and above, for those being reviewed, two and twenty thousand three and seventy and two hundred. And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, Take the Levites instead of all the first-born of the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be to me: I Jehovah. And the price of redemption of the three and seventy and two hundred, of those remaining over the Levites, from the first-born of the sons of Israel: And thou shalt take five shekels by the heads, according to the holy shekel thou shalt take: twenty gerahs the shekel. And give the silver to Aaron and to his sons, the price of redemption of those remaining over among them. And Moses will take the silver of the price of their redemption, from those remaining over them redeemed of the Levites. From the first-born of the sons of Israel he took the silver; five and sixty and three hundred and a thousand, according to the holy shekel. And Moses will give the silver of those being redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons, at the mouth of Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Every thing cleaving the womb for all flesh, which they shall bring to Jehovah, in man or in cattle, shall be to thee: but redeeming, thou shalt redeem the first-born of man, and the firstborn of unclean cattle thou shalt redeem. And those being redeemed from the son of a month, shalt thou redeem according to thy estimation, the silver of five shekels according to the holy shekel, it is twenty gerahs. read more. But the first-born of a cow, or the first-born of a sheep, or the first-born of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: their blood shalt thou pour out upon the altar, and their fat thou shalt burn a sacrifice for an odor of sweetness to Jehovah. And their flesh shall be to thee, as the breast of the lifting up, and as the right shoulder shall be to thee.
All the first-born that shall be brought forth among thy cattle and among thy sheep, the male thou shalt consecrate to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not work with the first-born of thy bullock, and thou shalt not shear first-born of thy sheep.
All the first-born that shall be brought forth among thy cattle and among thy sheep, the male thou shalt consecrate to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not work with the first-born of thy bullock, and thou shalt not shear first-born of thy sheep. Before Jehovah thy God thou shalt eat it year by year, in the place which Jehovah shall choose, thou, and thy house. read more. And when a blemish shall be in it, lame or blind, any evil blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God. In thy gates thou shalt eat it: the unclean and the clean together, as the roe and the stag. Only its blood thou shalt not eat: upon the earth shalt thou pour it as water.
Watch the month of Abib, and do the passover to Jehovah thy God: for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night And sacrifice the passover to Jehovah thy God, of the sheep, and the oxen in the place which Jehovah shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. read more. Thou shalt not eat upon it leavened; seven days thou shalt eat upon it unleavened, the bread of affliction; (for in hasty flight thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt) so that thou shalt remember the day of thy coming forth from the land of Egypt all the days of thy life, And leaven shall not be seen to thee in all thy boundary seven days; and there shall not remain over night from the flesh which thou shalt sacrifice in the evening, in the first day to the morning. Thou shalt not be able to sacrifice the passover in one of thy gates which Jehovah thy God gave to thee. But at the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, thou shalt sacrifice the passover in the evening, as the sun went down, the appointment of thy coming out of Egypt And boil thou and eat in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose in it: and turn in the morning and go to thy tents. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened, and in the seventh day an enclosing to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not do work.
When there shall be to a man two wives, the one loved and the one hated, and they bare sons to him, the loved and the hated, and the first-born son was to her being hated: And it was in the day of his causing his sons to inherit what shall be to him, he shall, not be able to make the son of the loved first-born before the son of the hated, the first-born: read more. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated, the first-born, to give to him the portion of two in all that shall be found to him; for he is the beginning of his strength; to him is the judgment of the first-born.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated, the first-born, to give to him the portion of two in all that shall be found to him; for he is the beginning of his strength; to him is the judgment of the first-born.
If brethren shall dwell together and one of them died, and a son not to him, the wife of the dead shall not be without to a man a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and he took her to him for a wife, and he acted the husband's brother to her. And it is the first-born which she shall bear shall rise up upon the name of his brother the dead, and his name shall not be wiped from Israel read more. And if the man shall not desire to take his brother's wife, and his brother's wife went up to the gate to the old men, and said, My husband's brother refused to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, and he would not act my husband's brother. And the old men of his city called to him and spake to him: and he stood and said, I desired not to take her. And his brother's wife drew near to him before the eyes of the old men, and drew off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and answered and said, Thus shall it be done to the man who will not build up the house of his brother. And his name was called in Israel, The house of him having his shoe drawn off.
And he will take his son, the firstborn, which shall reign in his stead, and bring him up a burnt-offering upon the wall: and there will be great anger against Israel, and they will remove from him and turn back to the land.
And the sons of Reuben the first-born of Israel, (for he the firstborn; and in his defiling his father's bed, the birth-right was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and not to be enrolled for the birthright
And to Hosah from the sons of Merari, Shimri the head, (for he was not the first-born, and his father will set him for head;)
And their father will give to them many gifts to silver and to gold, and to precious things, with fortified cities in Judah: and he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, for he was the first-born.
And he will strike all the firstborn in Egypt; the first-fruits of their toils in the tents of Ham:
Forever will I watch my mercy to him, and my covenant was firm to him.
And he will strike every first-born in their land, the first-fruits to all their strength.
He struck the first-born of Egypt., from man even to cattle.
To him striking Egypt in their first-born: for his mercy is forever.
In weeping will they come, and I will lead them in mercies; I will cause them to go to the streams of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it: for I was to Israel for a father, and Ephraim he is my first-born.
Will Jehovah delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousands of torrents of oil? shall I give my first-born my transgression? the fruit of my belly, the sin of my soul?
For whom he before knew, he also before determined of the form of the image of his Son, for him to be first born in many brethren.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that he might be the first in all
And when again he should bring in the firstborn to the habitable globe, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.
By faith he has kept the pascha, and the pouring out of blood, lest he destroying the first born should touch them.
To the assembly of people, and church of the firstborn, transcribed in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and. to the spirits of the just perfected,
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the chief of the kings of the earth. To him having loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood,
Smith
First-born.
Under the law, in memory of the exodus (when the first-born of the Egyptians were slain), the eldest son was regarded as devoted to God, and was in very case to be redeemed by an offering not exceeding five shekels, within one month from birth. If he died before the expiration of thirty days, the Jewish doctors held the father excused, but liable to the payment if he outlived that time.
The eldest son received a double portion of the father's inheritance,
De 21:17
but not of the mother's. Under the monarchy the eldest son usually, but no always, as appears in the case of Solomon, succeeded his father in the kingdom.
The male first-born of animals was also devoted to God.
Ex 13:2,12-13; 22:29; 34:19-20
Unclean animals were to be redeemed with the addition of one-fifth of the value, or else put to death; or, if not redeemed, to be sold, and the price given to the priests.
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Consecrate to me every first-born bursting open every womb among the sons of Israel, of man and of cattle: it is to me.
And thou madest pass over all bursting open the womb, to Jehovah; and every one bursting forth young of the quadruped which shall be to thee; the males are to Jehovah.
And thou madest pass over all bursting open the womb, to Jehovah; and every one bursting forth young of the quadruped which shall be to thee; the males are to Jehovah. And every first-born of the ass, thou shalt redeem with a sheep; and if thou shalt not redeem, thou shalt break his neck: and every first-born of man among thy sons thou shalt redeem.
And every first-born of the ass, thou shalt redeem with a sheep; and if thou shalt not redeem, thou shalt break his neck: and every first-born of man among thy sons thou shalt redeem. And it was when thy son shall ask thee to-morrow, saying, What this? and thou saidst to him, With strength of hand Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt from the house of servants. read more. And it shall be when Pharaoh was hard to send us forth, and Jehovah will kill every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of man to the firstborn of cattle; for this I sacrifice to Jehovah all bursting forth the womb, the males; and all the first-born of my sons I will redeem. And it was for a sign upon thy hand, and for bands between thine eyes: for with a strong hand Jehovah brought us forth from Egypt
Thy fulness and thy tears thou shalt not delay: the first-born of thy sons thou shalt give to me.
All opening the womb is to me: all thy cattle, the male, the firstling of the ox or sheep. And the first-born of the ass thou shalt redeem with a sheep: and if thou shalt not ransom, thou shalt break his neck. Every first-born of thy sons thou. shalt ransom, and he shall not be seen before me empty.
And if from the son of a month, and even to the son of five years, and thy estimation was, the male, five shekels of silver, and for the female, thy estimation, three shekels of silver.
And if redeeming, he shall redeem it, and he shall add its fifth upon thy estimation.
And if from unclean cattle, and he redeemed by thy estimation, and he shall add the fifth upon it: and if it shall not be redeemed, and it was sold by thy estimation. But all consecrated which a man shall consecrate to Jehovah from all which is to him, from man and cattle, and from the field of his possession, shall not be sold and shall not be redeemed: every thing consecrated it is holy of holies to Jehovah.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated, the first-born, to give to him the portion of two in all that shall be found to him; for he is the beginning of his strength; to him is the judgment of the first-born.
For us I swear to thee by Jehovah the God of Israel, saying that Solomon thy son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne instead of me; for so I will do this day.