Word study

Firstfruits

2 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “firstfruits”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “firstfruits” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • בִּכּוּר bikkûrfirst-fruitstranslated this way 12 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1061Noun  ·  Translated: firstfruits 12, first ripe 1, first 1, first ripe figs 1

    Exodus 23:16 You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

    Leviticus 2:14 If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer crushed heads of new grain roasted on the fire.

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • רֵאשִׁית rêshîthbeginning, chieftranslated this way 12 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H7225Noun  ·  Translated: firstfruits 12, beginning 11, best 7, first 6

    Leviticus 2:12 You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they must not go up on the altar as a pleasing aroma.

    Numbers 18:12 I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.

    Full study and all 47 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀπαρχή aparchḗthe first-fruitstranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G536Noun  ·  Translated: firstfruits 5, first part 1, first 1, first converts 1

    Romans 8:23 Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

    1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.