רֵאשִׁית

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they must not go up on the altar as a pleasing aroma.

“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest.

From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor.

Throughout your generations, you are to give the LORD an offering from the first of your dough.

I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.

Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Amalek was first among the nations, but his end is destruction.”

It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.

You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

…you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that 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,

And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land that You, O LORD, have given me.” Then you are to place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before Him.

He chose the best land for himself, because a ruler’s portion was reserved for him there. He came with the leaders of the people; he administered the LORD’s justice and His ordinances for Israel.”

Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’

The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything.

Moreover, we will bring to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God the firstfruits of our dough, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees, and of our new wine and oil. A tenth of our produce belongs to the Levites, so that they shall receive tithes in all the towns where we labor.

And on that same day men were appointed over the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tithes. The portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites were gathered into these storerooms from the fields of the villages, because Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who were serving.

Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.

He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.

Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever!

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;

Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.

The LORD created me as His first course, before His works of old.

To start a quarrel is to release a flood; so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.

The end of a matter is better than the beginning, and a patient spirit is better than a proud one.

I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.

At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD.

In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:

This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow, the mainstay of their might.

For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your offerings and choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.

The best of all the firstfruits and of every contribution from all your offerings will belong to the priests. You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest, so that a blessing may rest upon your homes.

They must not sell or exchange any of it, and they must not transfer this best part of the land, for it is holy to the LORD.

He will also invade the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall. But these will be delivered from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the leaders of the Ammonites.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so they became as detestable as the thing they loved.

Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.

You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.