Tithes and Firstfruits

By the Lord’s command, tithes were set apart for the service of the Levites, but offerings and firstfruits for the priests. And this was the law of the firstfruits: a fiftieth part of the crops or animals was to be given for the service of the temple and the priests. Some who were faithless and careless cut this share down, while those who were very devout increased it, so that the one gave only a sixtieth part of their crops, and the other a fortieth. For the righteous, for whom the law is not made, are shown in this way not to be under the law. They try not only to fulfill the righteousness of the law but even to go beyond it, and their devotion is greater than the law requires, since it goes past the keeping of the commands and of its own free will adds to what is owed. [a]