Study Desk

that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name.

"And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, 'I declare today to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.'

"Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the LORD your God.

"And you shall respond and say before the LORD your God, 'My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and resided there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty, and populous nation.

'Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our wretched condition, our trouble, and our oppression;

'And now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, LORD have given me.' Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God;

and you, the Levite, and the stranger who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household.

"And you shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have also given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, in accordance with all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not violated or forgotten any of Your commandments.

'I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have acted in accordance with everything that You have commanded me.

"This day the LORD your God commands you to perform these statutes and ordinances. Therefore you shall be careful to perform them with all your heart and with all your soul.

"Today you have declared the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

and that He will put you high above all the nations which He has made, for glory, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken."

"So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime

and write on them all the words of this Law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

"Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not wield an iron tool on them.

"You shall build the altar of the LORD your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the LORD your God;

and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God.

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and listen, Israel! This day you have become a people for the LORD your God.

"So you shall obey the LORD your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today."

"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the LORD your God will put you high above all the nations of the earth.