Numbers 18:15
Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed,
Open Numbers 18:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quidquid primum erumpit e vulva cunctæ carnis, quam offerunt Domino, sive ex hominibus, sive de pecoribus fuerit, tui juris erit : ita dumtaxat ut pro hominis primogenito pretium accipias, et omne animal quod immundum est redimi facias,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἀπὸ πάσης σαρκός, ἃ προσφέρουσιν Κυρίῳ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους, σοὶ ἔσται· ἀλλ᾽ ἢ λύτροις λυτρωθήσεται τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν κτηνῶν τῶν ἀκαθάρτων λυτρώσῃ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כָּל פֶּ֣טֶר רֶ֠חֶם לְֽכָל בָּשָׂ֞ר אֲשֶׁר יַקְרִ֧יבוּ לַֽיהוָ֛ה בָּאָדָ֥ם וּבַבְּהֵמָ֖ה יִֽהְיֶה לָּ֑ךְ אַ֣ךְ פָּדֹ֣ה תִפְדֶּ֗ה אֵ֚ת בְּכ֣וֹר הָֽאָדָ֔ם וְאֵ֛ת בְּכֽוֹר הַבְּהֵמָ֥ה הַטְּמֵאָ֖ה תִּפְדֶּֽה
Haydock's commentary
Beast. The Rabbins restrain this to the ass alone, which they pretend was deemed the only unclean animal by the Israelites, in Egypt, when this law was established; and Moses indeed specifies it alone, Exodus xiii. 13. (Abenezra)
But we cannot doubt but that camels, and all other unclean animals, were to be included, if the Hebrews kept them; (Calmet) and those which were rendered impure by some defect, were also to be redeemed. (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Jerome The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary
12. Our position is this: Every only begotten son is a first-born son, but not every first-born is an only begotten. By first-born we understand not only one who is succeeded by others, but one who has had no predecessor.“Everything,” says the Lord to Aaron, “that openeth the womb of all flesh which they offer unto the Lord, both of man and beast, shall be thine: nevertheless the first born of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.” The word of God defines first-born as everything that openeth the womb. Otherwise, if the title belongs to such only as have younger brothers, the priests cannot claim the firstlings until their successors have been begotten, lest, perchance, in case there were no subsequent delivery it should prove to be the first-born but not merely the only begotten. …