🔢WEB · Numbers 15:21
What does Numbers 15:21 mean?
"Of the first of your dough, you shall give to Yahweh a wave offering throughout your generations."
— Numbers 15:21 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land where I bring you,
then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a wave offering to Yahweh.
Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a wave offering. As the wave offering of the threshing floor, so you shall heave it.
Of the first of your dough, you shall give to Yahweh a wave offering throughout your generations.
“‘When you err, and don’t observe all these commandments, which Yahweh has spoken to Moses,
even all that Yahweh has commanded you by Moses, from the day that Yahweh gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations;
then it shall be, if it was done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh, with its meal offering, and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.
Explanation
Numbers 15:21 comes at the end of a short passage (Numbers 15:17-21) in which God instructs the Israelites, through Moses, that once they enter the land of Canaan, they are to take a portion of the first dough they make from the grain of the land and offer it to Yahweh. The verse itself simply states the ongoing nature of this command: this is not a one-time act but a perpetual statute, to be observed "throughout your generations," meaning by every generation of Israelites who would live in the land from that point forward.
The context is important. Numbers 15 as a whole addresses a range of offerings and regulations that will apply once Israel is settled in Canaan, given after the disheartening episode of the twelve spies in Numbers 13-14, where the people's unbelief led to forty years of wandering. Despite that failure, God reaffirms that the promise of the land still stands — these laws presuppose that Israel will indeed enter and dwell there. Moses is the mediator through whom God delivers these instructions, and they are addressed to the whole community of Israel, both native-born and any foreigner living among them (as verse 14 and following make clear the sojourner is included in some of these obligations too).
Theologically, the offering of the "first of your dough" belongs to the broader biblical pattern of firstfruits offerings, seen also with firstborn animals, the first sheaf of harvest (Leviticus 23), and other "first" portions given to God. The principle is that the first and best of what one produces belongs to the Lord, acknowledging that the land, the harvest, and
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.