The Firstborn Animals

¹⁹ Set apart for the Lord^(A) your God every firstborn male^(B) of your herds and flocks.^(C) Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.^(D)

² “Consecrate to me every firstborn male.^(A) The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

¹² you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.^(A)

¹⁴ Be joyful^(A) at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.

¹⁷ You must not eat in your own towns the tithe^(A) of your grain and new wine and olive oil,^(B) or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give,^(C) or your freewill offerings or special gifts.^(D)

¹⁷ “But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.^(A) Splash their blood^(B) against the altar and burn their fat^(C) as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.^(D)

¹⁵ The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.^(A) But you must redeem^(B) every firstborn^(C) son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.^(D)

²⁶ “‘No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord;^(A) whether an ox^[a] or a sheep, it is the Lord’s.

²³ to the church of the firstborn,^(A) whose names are written in heaven.^(B) You have come to God, the Judge of all,^(C) to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,^(D)