Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 100 and 54
you must set aside a tithe of your crops, one 10th of all the crops you harvest.
Each year, bring this tithe to the designated place of worship, the place the
Lord your God chooses for His name to be honored and eat it there in His presence.
This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn
males of your flocks and herds.
Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God.
Now, when the Lord, your God blesses you with a good harvest, the place
of worship he chooses for his name to be honored might be too
far for you to bring the tithe.
If so, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds, put
the money in a pouch and go to the place the Lord your God has chosen.
When you arrive, you may use the money to buy any kind of food you want.
Cattle, sheep, goats, wine, or other alcoholic drink, then feast there in
the presence of the Lord your God, and celebrate with your household.
And do not neglect the Levites in your town for they will receive
no allotment of land among you.
At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year's harvest
and store it in the nearest town.
Give it to the Levites who will receive no allotment of land among you, as
well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans and the widows in your
towns so they can eat and be satisfied.
Then the Lord, your God will bless you in all your work.
At the end of every seventh year, you must cancel the debts
of everyone who owes you money.
This is how it must be done.
Everyone must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites.
They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives.
For the Lord's time of release has arrived.
This release from debt however applies only to your fellow Israelites, not
to the foreigners living among you.
There should be no poor among you for the Lord.
Your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving
you as a special possession.
You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the
Lord your God, that I am giving you today.
The Lord, your God will bless you as he has promised You will lend money to many
nations but will never need to borrow.
You'll rule many nations, but they will not rule over you.
But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns, when you arrive in the
land, the Lord your God is giving you.
Do not be hardhearted or tight-fisted toward them.
Instead be generous and lend them whatever they need.
Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone alone because the year for
canceling debts is close at hand.
If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord,
you will be considered guilty of sin.
Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly for the Lord.
Your God will bless you in everything you do.
And there will always be some in the land who are poor.
That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and
with other Israelites in need.
If a fellow Hebrew sells himself or herself to be your servant and serves
you for six years, in the seventh year, you must set that servant free.
When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty handed.
Give him a generous, farewell gift from your flock, your threshing
floor, and your wine press.
Share with him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you.
Remember that you were once slaves in the land of Egypt and
the Lord your God redeemed you.
That is why I am giving you this command.
But suppose your servant says, I will not leave you because he loves you and your
family and he has done well with you.
In that case, take an all and push it through his earlobe into the door.
After that, he will be your servant for life and do the
same for your female servants.
You must not consider it a hardship when you release your servants.
Remember that for six years, they have given you services worth
double the wages of hired workers.
And the Lord your God will bless you and all you do,
you must set aside for the Lord your God, all the firstborn,
males from your flocks and herds.
Do not use the firstborn of your herds to work your fields and do not
shear the firstborn of your flocks.
Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the
presence of the Lord your God each year at the place he chooses.
But if this firstborn animal has any defect such as lameness or
blindness, or if anything else is wrong with it, you must not
sacrifice it to the Lord your God.
Instead, use it for food for your family in your hometown.
Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean may eat it just as
anyone may eat a gazelle or deer, but you must not consume the blood.
You must pour it out on the ground like water in honor of the Lord your God.
Celebrate the Passover each year in the early spring and the month of Abib for
that was the month in which the Lord your God, brought you out of Egypt by night.
Your Passover sacrifice may be from either the flock or the herd, and it must be
sacrificed to the Lord your God, at the designated place of worship, the place
he chooses for his name to be honored.
Eat it with bread made without yeast for seven days.
The bread you eat must be made without yeast as when you escaped
from Egypt in such a hurry.
Eat this bread, the bread of suffering so that as long as you live, you'll
remember the day you departed from Egypt.
Let no yeast be found in any house throughout your land for those seven days.
And when you sacrifice the Passover lamb on the evening of the first
day, do not let any of the meat remain until the next morning.
You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of the towns that
the Lord your God is giving you.
You must offer it only at the designated place of worship the place the Lord your
God chooses for His name to be honored.
Sacrifice it there in the evening as the sun goes down on the
anniversary of your exodus from Egypt.
Roast the lamb and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses.
Then you may go back to your tents the next morning for the next six days.
You may not eat any bread made with yeast.
On the seventh day.
Proclaim another holy day in honor of the Lord your God and
no work may be done on that day.
Count off seven weeks from when you first begin to cut the
grain at the time of harvest.
Then celebrate the Festival of Harvest to honor the Lord your God.
Bring him a voluntary offering in proportion to the blessings
you have received from him.
This is a time to celebrate before the Lord your God, at
the designated place of worship.
He will choose for his name to be honored.
Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites
from your towns and the foreigners, orphans and widows who live among you.
Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful
to obey all these decrees.
You must observe the festival of shelters for seven days at the end of the harvest
season, after the grain has been threshed and the grapes have been pressed.
This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters.
You're male and female servants and the Levites foreigners, orphans, and
widows from your towns for seven days.
You must celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God.
The place he chooses for it is He who blesses you with bountiful harvests
and gives you success in all your work.
This festival will be a time of great joy for all each year.
Every man in Israel must celebrate these three festivals.
The Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest,
and the Festival of Shelters.
On each of these occasions, all men must appear before the Lord your God, at the
place he chooses, but they must not appear before the Lord, without a gift for him.
All must give as they are able, according to the blessings given
to them by the Lord your God.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.