The first of the first fruits of your ground is literally “beginning of first-fruits of your [singular] ground.” The word for first may also mean “best,” so most translations interpret it as “the choicest of the first fruits” (New Revised Standard Version) or as “the best of the firstfruits” (New International Version). First fruits means “the first grain” (Good News Translation) or the first produce that is harvested.

You shall bring is literally “you [singular] shall cause to enter.” The house of the LORD your God may refer either to the tabernacle or to the temple, or perhaps to any shrine set apart for the worship of Yahweh. Another way to express this is “the place where you worship Yahweh, your God.” Since this is given as a permanent command, Good News Translation adds the idea of “each year,” although this is not in the text.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk is also found in 34.26 and in Deut 14.21. It is given in categorical form without explanation. The kid was a young goat, which was not as valuable as a lamb but good for eating and for sacrifice. By implication the law also applied to a lamb or a calf. The word for boil can also mean “cook” (Good News Translation), or even roast, but here the law prohibits preparing it with its mother’s milk. Goat’s milk was the most available, so probably this law applied to any goat’s milk, and even cow’s milk. This became the basis for the strict Jewish law forbidding eating meat and a dairy product in the same meal.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .