Firstfruits and Tithes

26 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits(A) of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name(B) and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering(C) Aramean,(D) and he went down into Egypt with a few people(E) and lived there and became a great nation,(F) powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer,(G) subjecting us to harsh labor.(H) Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice(I) and saw(J) our misery,(K) toil and oppression.(L) So the Lord brought us out of Egypt(M) with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,(N) with great terror and with signs and wonders.(O) He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;(P) 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.(Q)” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. 11 Then you and the Levites(R) and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice(S) in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth(T) of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe,(U) you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.(V) 14 I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean,(W) nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. 15 Look down from heaven,(X) your holy dwelling place, and bless(Y) your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Follow the Lord’s Commands

16 The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.(Z) 17 You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him.(AA) 18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession(AB) as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise,(AC) fame and honor high above all the nations(AD) he has made and that you will be a people holy(AE) to the Lord your God, as he promised.

53 Who has believed our message(A)
    and to whom has the arm(B) of the Lord been revealed?(C)
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,(D)
    and like a root(E) out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance(F) that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering,(G) and familiar with pain.(H)
Like one from whom people hide(I) their faces
    he was despised,(J) and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,(K)
yet we considered him punished by God,(L)
    stricken by him, and afflicted.(M)
But he was pierced(N) for our transgressions,(O)
    he was crushed(P) for our iniquities;
the punishment(Q) that brought us peace(R) was on him,
    and by his wounds(S) we are healed.(T)
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,(U)
    each of us has turned to our own way;(V)
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity(W) of us all.

He was oppressed(X) and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;(Y)
he was led like a lamb(Z) to the slaughter,(AA)
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression[a] and judgment(AB) he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;(AC)
    for the transgression(AD) of my people he was punished.[b]
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,(AE)
    and with the rich(AF) in his death,
though he had done no violence,(AG)
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.(AH)

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will(AI) to crush(AJ) him and cause him to suffer,(AK)
    and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,(AL)
he will see his offspring(AM) and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper(AN) in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,(AO)
    he will see the light(AP) of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant(AQ) will justify(AR) many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.(AS)
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g](AT)
    and he will divide the spoils(AU) with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,(AV)
    and was numbered with the transgressors.(AW)
For he bore(AX) the sin of many,(AY)
    and made intercession(AZ) for the transgressors.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 53:8 Or From arrest
  2. Isaiah 53:8 Or generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living, / that he was punished for the transgression of my people?
  3. Isaiah 53:10 Hebrew though you make
  4. Isaiah 53:11 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text does not have the light of life.
  5. Isaiah 53:11 Or (with Masoretic Text) 11 He will see the fruit of his suffering / and will be satisfied
  6. Isaiah 53:11 Or by knowledge of him
  7. Isaiah 53:12 Or many
  8. Isaiah 53:12 Or numerous

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