Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, ^2 (A)you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall ^(B)go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. ³ And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land ^(C)that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

⁵ “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A ^(A)wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, ^(B)few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶ And ^(C)the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. ⁷ Then ^(D)we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸ And ^(E)the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(F)with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror,^[a] with signs and wonders. ⁹ And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, ^(G)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹ And ^(H)you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

My Refuge and My Fortress

⁴ For ^(A)Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.^[a]

The Message of Salvation to All

⁵ For ^(B)Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^(C)the person who does the commandments shall live by them. ⁶ But ^(D)the righteousness based on faith says, ^(E)“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the ^(F)abyss?’” (that is, ^(G)to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? ^(H)“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if ^(I)you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ^(J)believe in your heart ^(K)that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, ^(L)“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ^12 (M)For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; ^(N)for the same Lord is Lord of all, ^(O)bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For ^(P)“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(A)And Jesus, ^(B)full of the Holy Spirit, ^(C)returned from the Jordan and was led ^(D)by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for ^(E)forty days, ^(F)being tempted by the devil. ^(G)And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, ^(H)he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are ^(I)the Son of God, command ^(J)this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, ^(K)“It is written, ^(L)‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ^5 (M)And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶ and said to him, “To you ^(N)I will give all this authority and their glory, ^(O)for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ And Jesus answered him, ^(P)“It is written,

^9 (S)And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are ^(T)the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰ for it is written,

¹¹ and

¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ^(W)‘You shall not ^(X)put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him ^(Y)until an opportune time.