Study Desk

When you were tired and worn out, they met you on the road and attacked all those lagging behind. They were not afraid of God.

When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you as your own, you shall destroy any memory of the Amalekites on the earth. Do not forget!

When you go into the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, to take it over and live in it,

you must take some of the first harvest of crops that grow from the land the Lord your God is giving you. Put the food in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God will choose to be worshiped.

Say to the priest on duty at that time, "Today I declare before the Lord your God that I have come into the land the Lord promised our ancestors that he would give us."

The priest will take your basket and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.

Then you shall announce before the Lord your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with only a few people, but they became a great, powerful, and large nation there.

So we prayed to the Lord , the God of our ancestors, and he heard us. When he saw our trouble, hard work, and suffering,

Now I bring part of the first harvest from this land that you, Lord , have given me." Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him.

Then you and the Levites and foreigners among you should rejoice, because the Lord your God has given good things to you and your family.

Then say to the Lord your God, "I have taken out of my house the part of my harvest that belongs to God, and I have given it to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. I have done everything you commanded me; I have not broken your commands, and I have not forgotten any of them.

I have not eaten any of the holy part while I was in sorrow. I have not removed any of it while I was unclean, and I have not offered it for dead people. I have obeyed you, the Lord my God, and have done everything you commanded me.

Today the Lord your God commands you to obey all these rules and laws; be careful to obey them with your whole being.

Today you have said that the Lord is your God, and you have promised to do what he wants you to do—to keep his rules, commands, and laws. You have said you will obey him.

He will make you greater than all the other nations he made. He will give you praise, fame, and honor, and you will be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Soon you will cross the Jordan River to go into the land the Lord your God is giving you. On that day set up some large stones and cover them with plaster.

When you cross over, write all the words of these teachings on them. Then you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a fertile land, just as the Lord , the God of your ancestors, promised.

Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God, but don't use any iron tool to cut the stones;

build the altar of the Lord your God with stones from the field. Offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God,

and offer fellowship offerings there, and eat them and rejoice before the Lord your God.