² put some of the first produce from each crop you harvest into a basket and bring it to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored.

¹⁹ “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God.

“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

¹⁶ “Second, celebrate the Festival of Harvest,^[a] when you bring me the first crops of your harvest.

“Finally, celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest^[b] at the end of the harvest season, when you have harvested all the crops from your fields.

³⁰ The first of the ripe fruits and all the gifts brought to the Lord will go to the priests. The first batch of dough must also be given to the priests so the Lord will bless your homes.

¹⁸ He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.^[a]

² On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.

²⁰ But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

¹⁶ And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.

²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,^[a] including the new bodies he has promised us.

¹⁴ None of this special land may ever be sold or traded or used by others, for it belongs to the Lord; it is set apart as holy.