The word "tithe" literally means a tenth.

Gen. 14: 19-20 And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, possessor of Heaven and Earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into you hand”. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Gen: 28:20-22 Then Jacob made a vow, saying “ if God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you".

Lev. 27: 30-34 Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord - it is Holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth of the value to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks - every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff - shall be Holy to the Lord, one shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall be make a substitute for it; an if he does substitute for it then both it and the substitute shall be Holy; it shall not be redeemed,”

Num. 18: 21 To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting.

Num. 18: 26 Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, when you take from the people of Israel the tithe I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord as a tithe of the tithe.

Deut. 12:5-6 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his Name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offering, your freewill offerings and the first born of your herds and flocks.

2 Chron. 31: 4-5 And he commanded that the people who lived in Jerusalem give the portion due to the Priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the Lord. As soon as the command spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

Neh. 10: 35-37 We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our group and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree year by year, to the house of the Lord; also to bring to the house of our God, to the priest who ministers in the house of the God, the first born of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the first born of our herds and of our flock; and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the Priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labour.

Mal.: 3: 8-10 Will man Rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say “how have we robbed you?" In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you robbing me the whole nation of you. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. "Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it".

Prov. 3: 9-10 Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all produce; then your barnes will be filled with plenty, and your bags will be bursting with wine.

Matt.6:1-4 Be careful not to do your 'righteous acts' before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from you Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Why does God tell us to pay tithes? Tithing makes the God's hand full of blessings move over us as say the Prophets of Old. We know that God does not need money. Human beings, His people need money to support the church and the congregation. So some money is for the children of God in need and some for the church/clergy.

God Bless,

Yours in Christ