Study Desk

"Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

"Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,

that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you harvest from the 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 (Presence).

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

"Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the LORD your God.

"And you shall say before the LORD your God, 'My father [Jacob] was a wandering Aramean, and he [along with his family] went down to Egypt and lived there [as strangers], few in number; but while there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

'Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers for help, and He heard our voice and saw our suffering and our labor and our [cruel] oppression;

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

and you and the Levite and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household.

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

'I have not eaten from the tithe while mourning, nor have I removed any of it when I was [ceremonially] unclean [making the tithe ceremonially unclean], nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done everything in accordance with all that You have commanded me.

"This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and judgments (precepts). Therefore, you shall be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being).

"Today you have [openly] declared the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk [that is, live each and every day] in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments (precepts), and listen to His voice.

and that He will set you high above all the nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor: and that you shall be a holy people [set apart and consecrated] to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken."

"So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to [enter] the land which the LORD your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with plaster (lime, whitewash).

"You shall write on the stones all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may go into the land which the LORD your God gives you, a land [of plenty] flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers has promised you.

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

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

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

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