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you have entered into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you have taken possession of it and live in you, 2 you must take some of the first of the produce of the soil that you harvest from the land that the Lord your God gives you and put it in a basket. Then you are to go to the place where the Lord your God chooses as a dwelling place for His Name. 3 You must go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord my God that I have entered the land that the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us’.
4 “The priest shall then take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you shall answer with this response before the Lord your God:
‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt, few in number, and lived there, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, imposing hard labour on us. 7 Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders. 9 He has brought us to this place and given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now I have brought the first of the produce of the ground that You, O Lord have given me’.
“You shall then set down the basket before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. 11 Then you shall rejoice at all the good things that the Lord your God has given to you and your household—you, the Levite, and the foreign resident who is among you.
12 “When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God:
‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have also given it to the Levite, the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all You have commanded me. I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments. 14 I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, and I have not offered any of it 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 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as You promised on oath to our forefathers’.
16 “The Lord your God this very day commands you to observe these statutes and ordinances. Therefore you must be careful to observe them with all your heart and all your soul. 17 Today you have affirmed that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. 18 The Lord has declared today that you are His special people, as He promised you, and that you are to keep all His commandments, 19 then He will set you far above all the nations that He has made in praise, in name, and in honour, and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised.”