Deuteronomy 26

Lexham English Bible

26 “And then^[a] when you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and you settle in it, ² then you shall take from the firstfruit of all the fruit of the ground that you harvest from your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose to make his name to dwell there. ³ And you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and you shall say, ‘I declare today^[b] to Yahweh your God that I have come into the land that Yahweh swore to our ancestors^[c] to give to us.’ ⁴ Then the priest takes the basket from your hand and places it before^[d] the altar of Yahweh your God. ⁵ And you shall declare^[e] and you shall say before^[f] your God, ‘My ancestor^[g] was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt, and there he dwelt as an alien few in number,^[h] and there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. ⁶ And the Egyptians treated us badly, and they oppressed us and imposed on us hard labor. ⁷ And we cried to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors,^[i] and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. ⁸ And Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and with wonders. ⁹ And he brought us to this place and gave to us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And now, look, I am bringing^[j] the firstfruit of the fruit of the ground that you gave to me, Yahweh,’ and you shall place it before^[k] Yahweh your God, and you shall bow down before^[l] Yahweh your God. ¹¹ And you shall celebrate with all of the bounty that Yahweh your God gave to you and to your family, you and the Levite and the alien who is in your midst.

¹² “When you are finished giving a tithe,^[m] all of the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and they may be satisfied. ¹³ And you shall say before^[n] Yahweh your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the^[o] house and, moreover, I have given it to the Levite and to the alien and to the orphan and to the widow according to all your commandment that you commanded me; I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten any of them. ¹⁴ I have not eaten during my time of mourning, and I have not removed anything from it while being unclean, and I have not offered any of it^[p] to someone who has died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me to do. ¹⁵ Look down from the dwelling place of your holiness, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land that you have given to us, as you swore to our ancestors,^[q] a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶ “This day Yahweh your God is commanding you to do these rules and regulations, and you must observe them diligently^[r] with all your heart and with all your soul.^{[s] 17} Yahweh you have declared today^[t] to be for you as your God, and to go^[u] in his ways and to observe his rules and his commandments and his regulations and to listen to his voice. ¹⁸ And Yahweh has declared you today^[v] to be for him as a people, a treasured possession, as he promised^[w] to you, and that you are to observe all his commandments, ¹⁹ and that he then will set you^[x] high above all the nations that he has made for his praise and for fame^[y] and for honor and for you to be a holy people^[z] to Yahweh your God, as he promised.”^[aa]