You must give them the best of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks.

You must give to the Lord some of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering in your future generations.

Your beginning will seem so small, since your future will flourish.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

It ranks first among the works of God, the One who made it has furnished it with a sword.

He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their reproductive power in the tents of Ham.

He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of their reproductive power.

Fearing the Lord is the beginning of moral knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first fruits of all your crops;

Wisdom is supreme – so acquire wisdom, and whatever you acquire, acquire understanding!

The Lord created me as the beginning of his works, before his deeds of long ago.

Starting a quarrel is like letting out water; stop it before strife breaks out!

The primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.

Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, outstanding in dignity, outstanding in power.

The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

“The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

You can present them to the Lord as an offering of first fruit, but they must not go up to the altar for a soothing aroma.

You must offer up a cake of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering; as you offer the raised offering of the threshing floor, so you must offer it up.

Then Balaam looked on Amalek and delivered this oracle: “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end will be that he will perish.”

But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep and cattle – the best of what was to be slaughtered – to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”