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

²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”^[a]),^(A)

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)

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)

¹³ for all the firstborn are mine.^(A) When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.”^(B)

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)

¹⁶ They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn,^(A) the first male offspring^(B) from every Israelite woman. ¹⁷ Every firstborn male in Israel, whether human or animal,^(C) is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself.^(D)

¹⁹ “Bring the best of the firstfruits^(A) of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.^(B)