Deuteronomy 15:20

20 Every year you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.

Deuteronomy 15:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 15:20

Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God, year by year
Which, if understood of male firstlings, as in connection with the preceding verse, only priests might eat of them, being devoted to the Lord; so Jarchi says, to the priest he speaks; but if this respects the Israelites in common, then they must be understood either of female firstlings or second firstlings, which the people voluntarily separated, and which they were not to eat in their own houses,

but in the place which the Lord shall choose,
which was the city of Jerusalem; see ( Deuteronomy 12:5 ) ,

thou and thy household;
the household of the priest, as Aben Ezra interprets it; but if it designs the same as in ( Deuteronomy 12:17 Deuteronomy 12:18 ) , then the Israelites and their families are meant.

Deuteronomy 15:20 In-Context

18 If you have to let your slave go free, it won't be a hardship for you. It would have cost you twice as much to hire someone to do the same work for those six years. Besides, the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.
19 You must dedicate every firstborn male from your herds and flocks to the LORD your God. Never use a firstborn ox for work, and never shear a firstborn sheep.
20 Every year you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.
21 But if an animal is lame or blind or has any other serious defect--never sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 Eat it in your city. Clean and unclean people may eat them together as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer.
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