Deuteronomy 26

When you come into the land the LORD your God is giving you to own and pass down, and you take possession of it and settle in it,

1And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;

2then take some of the first part of every crop you harvest from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you. Put it in a basket. Go to the place the LORD your God will choose as the home for his name.

2That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

Note"Firstfruits" were the earliest part of a harvest to ripen, brought to the sanctuary before the rest of the crop was used at home. "The place the LORD your God will choose as the home for his name" is Deuteronomy's standing phrase for the one central sanctuary where offerings were to be brought, as opposed to local shrines; a god's "name" placed on a site marked it as belonging to him.

3Go to the priest who is serving at that time and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land the LORD promised our ancestors he would give us."

3And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.

4The priest will take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

4And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.

5Then you are to say this before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with only a few people and lived there as a foreigner. There he became a nation, great and strong, with many people.

5And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

NoteAn Aramean is someone from Aram, the region covering Syria and upper Mesopotamia, where Israel's ancestors came from and where Jacob lived and married. The Hebrew word behind "wandering" can also mean "perishing" or "lost" (the KJV takes it that way: "ready to perish"), so the line may picture a homeless migrant, a man on the edge of ruin, or both at once.

6But the Egyptians treated us badly. They made us suffer and put us to hard slave labor.

6And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:

7So we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. The LORD heard our voice and saw our suffering, our hard work, and how we were crushed.

7And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:

8So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a powerful outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders.

8And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:

Note"A strong hand and an outstretched arm" is a fixed Hebrew phrase for overwhelming power in action; the image is an arm drawn back to strike. "Signs and wonders" is likewise a standard pair, meaning events startling enough to mark out who is behind them.

9He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

9And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.

Note"Flowing with milk and honey" was a stock description of rich country: enough grazing to keep herds and flocks in milk, and enough flowering growth for wild honey. The word for honey can also cover the thick syrup boiled from dates or grapes.

10And now, look, I have brought the first part of the harvest from the land you, LORD, have given me." Then set the basket down before the LORD your God and bow low before him.

10And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

11You are to be glad about every good thing the LORD your God has given you and your household. So rejoice, along with the Levite and the foreigner living among you.

11And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

NoteA Levite belonged to the tribe of Levi, which was allotted no territory of its own and served at the sanctuary, living on offerings and tithes rather than on farmland. The "foreigner" (Hebrew ger) is not a passing visitor but a non-Israelite settled permanently in the land; with no inherited land, he is grouped with the orphan and the widow as someone dependent on others' harvests.

12In the third year, the year for the tenth, finish setting aside a tenth of everything your land produced. Give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, so they may eat their fill in your towns.

12When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;

NoteA tithe was a tenth of the year's produce set aside for God. In ordinary years it was carried to the central sanctuary and eaten there by the household; every third year it stayed in the local town instead and was handed over to those with no land of their own. "Within your gates" means inside the towns, a town's gateway was where its public business was transacted, so "gates" stands for the town itself.

13Then say before the LORD your God: "I have taken the holy portion out of my house and given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, just as you commanded me. I have not broken your commands or forgotten them.

13Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:

NoteThe "holy portion" (KJV "hallowed things") is produce already designated for God. Once set apart it was no longer the owner's to use, and what follows is a formal oath that none of it was kept back or diverted.

14I have not eaten any of it while I was mourning a death. I have not taken any of it away while I was unclean. I have not given any of it as an offering for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God and done everything you commanded me.

14I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

NoteThree ways the set-apart food could be disqualified. A death in the household left its members ritually impure, a state that barred them from contact with anything holy, and food handled or eaten during mourning shared that condition; "unclean" here means that ritual state, not dirt. An "offering for the dead" refers to food supplied to the dead in the grave, a widespread practice among Israel's neighbors.

15Look down from your holy home, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey."

15Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

16Today the LORD your God commands you to follow these rules and laws. So be careful to keep them and live by them with all your heart and with all your soul.

16This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

17Today you have declared that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his rules, his commands, and his laws, and listen to his voice.

17Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:

NoteThe verb translated "declared" in verses 17 and 18 is a rare one, and the same word is applied to both sides in turn. The effect is of two parties making a formal, binding declaration to each other, in the manner of treaty language; the KJV renders it "avouched."

18And today the LORD has declared that you are his people, his treasured possession, just as he promised you, and that you are to keep all his commands.

18And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

NoteThe KJV's "peculiar people" does not mean odd. "Peculiar" in 1611 meant "belonging to one owner in particular," and it translates a Hebrew term used of a king's personal treasure, kept separate from the general property of the realm.

19He has declared that he will set you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, in fame, and in honor, and that you will be a holy people belonging to the LORD your God, just as he has said.

19And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.