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 ^(D)wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, ^(E)few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶ And ^(F)the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. ⁷ Then ^(G)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 ^(H)the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(I)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, ^(J)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 ^(K)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.

¹² “When you have finished paying all ^(L)the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is ^(M)the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, ¹³ then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, ^(N)nor have I forgotten them. ^14 (O)I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it ^(P)to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. ^15 (Q)Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶ “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. ^17 (R)You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. ¹⁸ And the Lord has declared today that you are ^(S)a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, ¹⁹ and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor ^(T)high above all nations ^(U)that he has made, and that you shall be ^(V)a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

Christ Has Set Us Free

5 For ^(A)freedom Christ has ^(B)set us free; ^(C)stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to ^(D)a yoke of ^(E)slavery.

² Look: I, Paul, say to you that ^(F)if you accept circumcision, ^(G)Christ will be of no advantage to you. ³ I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that ^(H)he is obligated to keep the whole law. ⁴ You are ^(I)severed from Christ, ^(J)you who would be justified^[a] by the law; ^(K)you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly ^(L)wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus ^(M)neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but ^(N)only faith working through love.

^7 (O)You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying ^(P)the truth? ⁸ This persuasion is not from ^(Q)him who calls you. ^9 (R)A little leaven leavens the whole lump. ^10 (S)I have confidence in the Lord that you will ^(T)take no other view, and ^(U)the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. ¹¹ But if I, brothers,^[b] still preach^[c] circumcision, ^(V)why am I still being persecuted? In that case ^(W)the offense of the cross has been removed. ¹² I wish ^(X)those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. ^(Y)Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love ^(Z)serve one another. ¹⁴ For ^(AA)the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ^(AB)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you ^(AC)bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶ But I say, ^(AD)walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^(AE)the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For ^(AF)the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^(AG)to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸ But if you are ^(AH)led by the Spirit, ^(AI)you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now ^(AJ)the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, ^(AK)divisions, ²¹ envy,^[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that ^(AL)those who do^[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But ^(AM)the fruit of the Spirit is ^(AN)love, joy, peace, patience, ^(AO)kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ^23 (AP)gentleness, ^(AQ)self-control; ^(AR)against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus ^(AS)have crucified the flesh with its ^(AT)passions and desires.

²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, ^(AU)let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ^26 (AV)Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.