“Speak to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, bring an offering to the Lord. Gather your crops. Bring the first bundle of grain to the priest.
“Celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Bring the first share of your crops from your fields. “Celebrate the Feast of Booths. Hold it in the fall when you gather in your crops from your fields.
The best of every first share of the people’s crops will belong to the priests. So will all their special gifts. The people must give the priests the first share of their ground meal. Then I will bless my people’s families.
“You will enter the land of Canaan. I am giving it to you as your own. When you enter it, suppose I put mold in one of your houses. And suppose the mold spreads.
He must lift up the grain and wave it in front of the Lord. Then the Lord will accept it from you. The priest must wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
Bring two loaves of bread that are made with seven pounds of the finest flour. They must be baked with yeast. Bring them to me as a wave offering from the first share of your crops. That applies no matter where you live.
“ ‘On the day you gather the first share of your crops, present to the Lord an offering of your first grain. Do it during the Feast of Weeks. Come together for a special service. Do not do any regular work.
The water of the Jordan was going over its banks. It always does that at the time the crops are being gathered. The priests came to the river. Their feet touched the water’s edge.
They had not committed sexual sins with women. They had kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among human beings as a first offering to God and the Lamb.
So Naomi returned from Moab. Ruth, her daughter-in-law from Moab, came with her. They arrived in Bethlehem just when people were beginning to harvest the barley.