Romans 11:16

Romans 11:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
• New International Version (NIV)If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
• English Standard Version (ESV)If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Context of Romans 11:16

14I hope that my work among you Gentiles will cause my own people to be jealous. As a result, some of them may turn to God, so that he saves them. 15When God turned away from Israel's people, he then accepted other people in the world as his friends. So, when God does accept Israel's people, the result will be even better! It will be like dead people who have become alive again! If you offer the first piece of bread to God, then all the bread will belong to God. If the roots of a tree belong to God, then the branches will also be his. 17Israel's people are like an olive tree that a farmer has planted. But God has broken off some of that tree's branches. Then he has taken a branch from a wild olive tree. He has put that wild branch into the farmer's tree, to become part of that tree. You Gentiles are like the wild branch. Now you receive food from the root of the farmer's tree, to make you strong. 18Israel's people are like the branches that God broke off. But you must not think that you are better than those branches. Remember that you are still only a branch. You do not make the root strong. No, it is the root that holds you up and makes you strong.

Romans 11:16 word by word

εἰ δὲ ἡ ἀπαρχὴ ἁγία, καὶ τὸ φύραμα· καὶ εἰ ἡ ῥίζα ἁγία, καὶ οἱ κλάδοι.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Forδέde · thenG1161
• ifεἰei · ifG1487
• the firstfruitὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the firstfruitἀπαρχήaparchē · firstfruitsG536
• holyἅγιοςhagios · holyG40
• the lumpφύραμαphurama · lumpG5445
• alsoκαίkai · andG2532
• the rootῥίζαrhiza · rootG4491
• the branchesκλάδοςklados · branchG2798

Cross-references for Romans 11:16

• Exodus 22:29Do not refuse to offer your grain, your wine or your olive oil to me. You must give your firstborn sons to me.
• Exodus 23:16Eat the Feast of Harvest every year. Offer to me the first crops that you bring from your fields. At the end of each year, eat Feast of Final Harvest. Do that when you have finished bringing in all of your crops from the fields.
• Leviticus 23:10‘Tell Israel's people this. They will go into the land that I will give to them. And then they will harvest the grain. They must take the first part of the harvest in their arms. They must give this to the priest.
• Numbers 15:17The Lord said to Moses,
• Deuteronomy 18:4You must also give them the first part of your grain, your wine and your olive oil. Give them the first wool that you cut from your sheep.
• Deuteronomy 26:10So now I am bringing the first food that has grown in my fields. You, Lord, have given it to me.’ Then you must put the basket down in front of the Lord's altar. Worship him there.
• Nehemiah 10:35We will also agree to bring the first crops from our land each year and the first fruits from our trees. We will bring these to the Lord's temple.
• Proverbs 3:9Show that you respect the Lord in the way that you use your money. Offer the first part of the harvest from your farm to him.
• Ezekiel 44:30The best of all the first crops from people's land and all their special gifts will belong to the priests. You must also give to the priests the first flour that you make from your grain. Then I will bless the people who live in your house.
• James 1:18He chose to make us his children. He used his true message to do that. Because of that, we are like the first special gift that belongs to him from among everything that he has made.
• Revelation 14:4These 144,000 people have kept themselves pure. They have not had sex with women in a wrong way. They follow the Lamb everywhere that he goes. God has saved them from among the people of the world and he has paid for their sins. They are the first people to become a gift to God and to the Lamb.
• Romans 11:17Israel's people are like an olive tree that a farmer has planted. But God has broken off some of that tree's branches. Then he has taken a branch from a wild olive tree. He has put that wild branch into the farmer's tree, to become part of that tree. You Gentiles are like the wild branch. Now you receive food from the root of the farmer's tree, to make you strong.
• Genesis 17:7My covenant with you is very strong. I am making it with you and with your descendants. It will continue for generation after generation of your descendants, for all time. I will be your God. I will also be the God of all your descendants.
• Jeremiah 2:21I planted you in my land, like the very good seed of a vine. But see how you have changed! You have become like a wild vine. Your grapes are bad and useless.
• 1 Corinthians 7:14God accepts a husband who does not believe in Christ because of his Christian wife. And God accepts a wife who does not believe in Christ because of her Christian husband. If that was not true, the children would not belong to God. But God does accept them, because to him they are now clean.

Commentaries on Romans 11:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16For if the first fruit be holy - As the consecrating the first fruits to God was the means of drawing down his blessing upon the rest, so the conversion of Abraham to the true faith, and the several Jews who have now embraced Christianity, are pledges that God will, in process of time, admit the whole Jewish nation into his favor again, so that they shall constitute a part of the visible Church of Christ. If the root be holy, so are the branches - The…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16For if the first-fruit be holy - The word “first-fruit” ̓́ aparchēused here denotes the firstling of fruit or grain which was separated from the mass and presented as an offering to God. The Jews were required to present such a portion of their harvest to God, as an expression of gratitude and of their sense of dependence; Numbers 15:19-21. Until this was done, it was not lawful to partake of the harvest. The offering of this was regarded as rendering…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-21Verses 11-21 The gospel is the greatest riches of every place where it is. As therefore the righteous rejection of the unbelieving Jews, was the occasion of so large a multitude of the Gentiles being reconciled to God, and at peace with him; the future receiving of the Jews into the church would be such a change, as would resemble a general resurrection of the dead in sin to a life of righteousness. Abraham was as the root of the church. The Jews…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16The whole batch … is holy: This is because the first part given as an offering is holy. This imagery comes from Numbers 15:17–21. In that passage, God told the Israelites to take part of their first batch of dough and set it apart as an offering to him. Paul uses this image to explain God’s faithfulness to Israel. God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were like a first portion given to God. Because of these promises, God’s work with his people will…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. For--"But" if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root ... so the branches--The Israelites were required to offer to God the first-fruits of the earth--both in their raw state, in a sheaf of newly reaped grain (Le 23:10, 11), and in their prepared state, made into cakes of dough (Nu 15:19-21)--by which the whole produce of that season was regarded as hallowed. It is probable that the latter of these offerings is here intended…Read the comment

Topics related to Romans 11:16

• First Fruits
• Holiness
• Salvation

In the dictionaries

• Cast
• Conclude
• Dark
• Depth
• Election
• Emulation
• Grace
• Judgment
• Rest
• Trap

Commentaries on Romans 11

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings