Deuteronomy 26:1-28:14

English Standard Version

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, ²^(A)you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall ^(B)go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. ³And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land ^(C)that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

⁵“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A ^(D)wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, ^(E)few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶And ^(F)the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. ⁷Then ^(G)we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸And ^(H)the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(I)with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror,^[a] with signs and wonders. ⁹And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, ^(J)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹And ^(K)you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

¹²“When you have finished paying all ^(L)the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is ^(M)the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, ¹³then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, ^(N)nor have I forgotten them. ¹⁴^(O)I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it ^(P)to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. ¹⁵^(Q)Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶“This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷^(R)You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. ¹⁸And the Lord has declared today that you are ^(S)a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, ¹⁹and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor ^(T)high above all nations ^(U)that he has made, and that you shall be ^(V)a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. ²And on the day ^(W)you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. ³^(X)And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(Y)a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. ⁴And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, ^(Z)on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. ⁵And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. ^(AA)You shall wield no iron tool on them; ⁶you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut^[b] stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, ⁷and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and ^(AB)shall eat there, and you ^(AC)shall rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸And ^(AD)you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Curses from Mount Ebal

⁹Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: ^(AE)this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

¹¹That day Moses charged the people, saying, ¹²“When you have crossed over the Jordan, ^(AF)these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴And ^(AG)the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

¹⁵^(AH)“‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ ^(AI)And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁶^(AJ)“‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁷^(AK)“‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁸^(AL)“‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁹^(AM)“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁰^(AN)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has ^(AO)uncovered his father's nakedness.’^[c] And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²¹^(AP)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²²^(AQ)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²³^(AR)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁴^(AS)“‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁵^(AT)“‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁶^(AU)“‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(AV)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(AW)high above all the nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(AX)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(AY)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be ^(AZ)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(BA)kneading bowl. ⁶Blessed shall you be ^(BB)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷“The Lord ^(BC)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸The Lord ^(BD)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(BE)in all that you undertake. ^(BF)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁹^(BG)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And ^(BH)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(BI)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(BJ)afraid of you. ¹¹And ^(BK)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(BL)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹²The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(BM)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(BN)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(BO)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³And the Lord will make you ^(BP)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ¹⁴^(BQ)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.