1   When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you to occupy as your patrimony and settle in it, 2   you shall take the firstfruits of all the produce of the soil, which you gather in from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put them in a basket. Then you shall go to the place which the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and come to the priest, 3   whoever he shall be in those days. You shall say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord your God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us.’ 4   The priest shall take the basket from your hand

God's laws delivered by Moses and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5   Then you shall solemnly recite before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a homeless ^note Aramaean who went down to Egypt with a small company and lived there until they became a great, powerful, and numerous nation. 6   But the Egyptians ill-treated us, humiliated us and imposed cruel slavery upon us. 7   Then we cried to the Lord the God of our fathers for help, and he listened to us and saw our humiliation, our hardship and distress; 8   and so the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying deeds, and with signs and portents. 9   He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10   And now I have brought the firstfruits of the soil which thou, O Lord, hast given me.’ You shall then set the basket before the Lord your God and bow down in worship before him. 11   You shall all rejoice, you and the Levites and the aliens living among you, for all the good things which the Lord your God has given to you and to your family.

12   When you have finished taking a tithe of your produce in the third year, the tithe-year, you shall give it to the Levites and to the aliens, the orphans, and the widows. They shall eat it in your settlements and be well fed. 13   Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: ‘I have rid my house of the tithe that was holy to thee and given it to the Levites, to the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, according to all the commandments which thou didst lay upon me. I have not broken or forgotten any of thy commandments. 14   I have not eaten any of the tithe while in mourning, nor have I rid myself of it for unclean purposes, ^note nor offered any of it to ^note the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God: I have done all that thou didst command me. 15   Look down from heaven, thy holy dwelling-place, and bless thy people Israel and the ground which thou hast given to us as thou didst swear to our forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

16   This day the Lord your God commands you to keep these statutes and laws: be careful to observe them with all your heart and soul. 17   You have recognized the Lord this day as your God; you are to conform to his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his laws, and to obey him. 18   The Lord has recognized you this day as his special possession, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments; he will raise you high above all the nations which he has made, 19   to bring him praise and fame and glory, and to be a people holy to the Lord your God, according to his promise.

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