The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Deuteronomy 26
1 It shall be, when you have come in to
the land which Yahweh your God gives you
for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in
it,
2 that you shall take some of the first of
all the fruit of the ground, which you shall
bring in from your land that Yahweh your
God gives you. You shall put it in a basket,
and shall go to the place which Yahweh
your God shall choose to cause his name to
dwell there.
3 You shall come to the priest who shall
be in those days, and tell him, “I profess
today to Yahweh your God, that I have
come to the land which Yahweh swore to
our fathers to give us.”
4 The priest shall take the basket out of
your hand, and set it down before Yahweh
your God’s altar.
5 You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father† was a Syrian
ready to perish. He went down into Egypt,
and lived there, few in number. There
he became a great, mighty, and populous
nation.
6 The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted
us, and imposed hard labor on us.
7 Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of
our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and
saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
8 Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with
a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm,
with great terror, with signs, and with
wonders;
9 and he has brought us into this place,
and has given us this land, a land flowing
with milk and honey.
10 Now, behold, I have brought the first
of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down
before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God.
11 You shall rejoice in all the good which
Yahweh your God has given to you, and to
your house, you, and the Levite, and the
foreigner who is among you.
12 When you have finished tithing all the
tithe of your increase in the third year,
which is the year of tithing, then you shall
give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the
fatherless, and to the widow, thatthey may
eat within your gates and be filled.
13 You shall say before Yahweh your God,
“I have put away the holy things out of
my house, and also have given them to
the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all
your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any
of your commandments, neither have I
forgotten them.
14 I have not eaten of it in my mourning,
neither have I removed any of it while I
was unclean, nor given of it for the dead.
I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice.
I have done according to all that you have
commanded me.
15 Look down from your holy habitation,
from heaven, and bless your people Israel,
and the ground which you have given us,
as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing
with milk and honey.”
16 Today Yahweh your God commands
you to do these statutes and ordinances.
You shall therefore keep and do them with
all your heart and with all your soul.
17 You have declared today that Yahweh
is your God, and that you would walk in
his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, andhis ordinances, and listentohis
voice.
18 Yahweh has declared today that you
are a people for his own possession, as
he has promised you, and that you should
keep all his commandments.
19 He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name,
and in honor, and that you may be a holy
people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.