StrongerBible

bikkur

בִּכּוּרִים

HebrewH1061“firstfruits, firstripe”

Appears 17 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 23:16Exo 23:19Exo 34:22Exo 34:26Lev 2:14 (2×)Lev 23:17Lev 23:20Num 13:20Num 18:13Num 28:262Ki 4:42Neh 10:35(36) (2×)Neh 13:31Ezk 44:30Nam 3:12
Word studyResearch-gradebee-koo-REEMnoun

What bikkur means

firstfruits: the first-ripened produce of the land, owed to God and given to the priests

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

Firstfruits names the very first crops to ripen in a season, set apart for God before anyone takes a share for themselves. The word grows from a root meaning to be first in producing, the same root behind the words (בכור) for a firstborn child and a firstling animal. The shared idea runs through all of them: whatever comes first belongs to God, and offering that first portion releases the rest of the harvest for ordinary use.

Most often the word refers to the offering itself, the basket of raw first-ripe grain or fruit brought to the sanctuary and handed to the priests. Scholars carefully separate firstfruits from a closely related term (ראשׁית) for first-processed goods like oil, wine, and flour, and from the tithe, which is a fixed tenth. Firstfruits are the just-ripened raw produce, given in no set amount but as the season's earliest yield.

The same word also names the harvest festival built around this offering, the feast later called the Feast of Weeks and once called simply the Day of Firstfruits. And in a few places the word keeps its plainest sense, the first fruit to ripen on a tree or vine, with no offering in view at all.

In its richest setting the offering became a confession that the land is a gift rather than something earned. The worshipper who brought the basket recited the story of Israel's rescue from Egypt, so that handing over the first of the crop became an act of national memory and thanksgiving.

Nuances

1athe first-ripened produce offered to God and given to the priests
Exo 23:16Exo 23:19Exo 34:26Lev 2:14 (2×)Num 18:132Ki 4:42Neh 10:35(36) (2×)Neh 13:31Ezk 44:30
1bthe harvest festival of firstfruits and its calendar day (later the Feast of Weeks)
Exo 34:22Lev 23:17Lev 23:20Num 28:26
1cthe earliest crop of the season to ripen, with no offering in view
Num 13:20Nam 3:12

What scholars say about bikkur

The dominant modern treatment is Milgrom's diagnostic distinction in priestly diction between bikkurim (first-ripened raw produce) and reshit (first-processed: oil, wine, flour, dough), restated across his Anchor Bible Leviticus volumes; bikkurim is further set off from the tithe (a proportional tenth assigned to the Levites) and from terumah (a dedication category under which it can be presented). Levine accepts the distinction in principle but treats the clean separation as a likely Priestly-Holiness redactional sharpening of a once more fluid pair, noting that Deuteronomy 26 conspicuously uses reshit where one would expect bikkurim. Source critics (Levinson, Gesundheit, Knohl, Stackert, Baden) read a diachronic trajectory: a flexible local agrarian rite in the Covenant Code, a Deuteronomic confession of land-as-gift in Deut 26, a calendrically fixed priestly offering tied to Shavuot in P/H (with Num 28:26 coining yom ha-bikkurim), and a postexilic consolidation as a backbone of temple support (Ezek 44:30; Neh 10:35-37). Theologically the term coordinates with firstborn theology (Tsevat in TDOT; Levenson; Propp) under the principle that the first belongs to God and its offering releases the whole; Anderson reframes the complex as gift-tribute, Douglas as an act of honoring, Watts as priestly rhetoric. The Septuagint renders the word with aparche (Wevers; Muraoka), the term Paul later uses of the risen Christ in 1 Cor 15:20, 23.

Where scholars disagree about bikkur

Whether firstfruits and the term for first-processed goods (reshit) are genuinely distinct in meaning, or were largely interchangeable until priestly editors sharpened them.

  • majorityThey are clearly distinct in priestly law: firstfruits are first-ripened raw produce, reshit is first-processed (oil, wine, flour, dough). This is the dominant modern reading.; Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, Anchor Bible 3 (Doubleday, 1991), 190-191
  • minorityThe clean separation is likely a later priestly sharpening of a once more fluid pair; the words may have been nearly synonymous in earlier strata, and Deuteronomy 26 uses reshit where one might expect firstfruits.; Baruch Levine, Leviticus, JPS Torah Commentary (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), on 2:14
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, Anchor Bible 3 (Doubleday, 1991), 190-195commentary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27, Anchor Bible 3B (Doubleday, 2001), 1983-91commentary
  • Baruch Levine, Numbers 1-20, Anchor Bible 4 (Doubleday, 1993), 446-451commentary
  • Baruch Levine, Numbers 21-36, Anchor Bible 4A (Doubleday, 2000), 388-393commentary
  • Matitiahu Tsevat, "bekhor," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament II (Eerdmans, 1975), 121-127theological-dictionary
  • David J. A. Clines, ed., Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 2 (Sheffield, 1995), 161-164lexicon
  • Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Torah Commentary (Jewish Publication Society, 1996), 237-242commentary
  • Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son (Yale University Press, 1993)monograph
  • Gary A. Anderson, Sacrifices and Offerings in Ancient Israel, HSM 41 (Scholars Press, 1987)monograph
  • John W. Wevers, Notes on the Greek Text of Numbers, SBLSCS (Scholars Press, 1998)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of בִּכּוּרִים

m p construct

בִּכּוּרֵי

Exo 23:16, Exo 23:19, Exo 34:22, Exo 34:26, Num 13:20, Num 18:13, Neh 10:35, Neh 10:35

m p absolute

בִּכּוּרִים

Lev 2:14, Lev 23:17, Lev 23:20, Num 28:26, 2Ki 4:42, Neh 13:31, Nam 3:12

m p construct

בִּכּוּרֶיךָ

Lev 2:14