CHAPTER 26
Thanksgiving for the Harvest. 1a When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, and have taken possession and settled in it, 2you shall take some first fruitsb of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land the LORD, your God, is giving you; put them in a basket and go to the place which the LORD, your God, will choose as the dwelling place for his name. 3There you shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “Today I acknowledge to the LORD, my God, that I have indeed come into the land which the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”c 4The priest shall then take the basket from your hands and set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God. 5Then you shall declare in the presence of the LORD, your God, “My father was a refugee Aramean* who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as a resident alien.d But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous. 6e When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing harsh servitude upon us, 7we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors, and the LORD heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression. 8Then the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders,f 9and brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.g 10Now, therefore, I have brought the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, LORD, have given me.” You shall set them before the LORD, your God, and you shall bow down before the LORD, your God. 11Then you and your household, together with the Levite and the resident aliens who live among you, shall celebrate with all these good things which the LORD, your God, has given you.h
Declaration Concerning Tithes. 12When you have finished setting aside all the tithes of your produce in the third year,i the year of the tithes, and have given them to the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat and be satisfied in your own communities, 13you shall declare before the LORD, your God, “I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor forgotten any. 14* I have not eaten any of the tithe while in mourning; I have not brought any of it while unclean; I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have thus obeyed the voice of the LORD, my God, and done just as you have commanded me.j 15Look down, then, from heaven, your holy abode, and bless your people Israel and the fields you have given us, as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”k
The Covenant. 16l This day the LORD, your God, is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances. Be careful, then, to observe them with your whole heart and with your whole being. 17Today you have accepted the LORD’s agreement: he will be your God, and you will walk in his ways, observe his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey his voice. 18And today the LORD has accepted your agreement: you will be a people specially his own, as he promised you, you will keep all his commandments, 19and he will set you high in praise and renown and glory above all nations he has made, and you will be a people holy to the LORD, your God, as he promised.
* [26:5] Aramean: probably in reference to the origin of the patriarchs from Aram Naharaim (cf. Gn 24:10; 25:20; 28:5; 31:20, 24).
* [26:14] These are allusions to foreign religious practices. To the dead: to feed the spirits of the dead, or perhaps to worship Baal.
a. [26:1–11] Dt 14:22–29; 16:1–17; Ex 22:29; Lv 23:9–21; Nm 28:26–31.
b. [26:2] Dt 12:5, 11; 18:4; Ex 23:19; 34:26; Tb 1:6–7.
d. [26:5] Gn 46:5–7, 26–27; Ex 1:7, 9; Acts 7:14–15.
e. [26:6–7] Ex 1:8–22; 2:23–25; 3:7–10; 6:9; Nm 20:15–16; 1 Kgs 12:4.
f. [26:8] Dt 4:34; 6:21–22; Ex 12:51.
j. [26:14] Dt 14:1; Lv 11:24–25; 22:3; Jer 16:7.
k. [26:15] 1 Kgs 8:39, 43, 49; Ps 102:19.
l. [26:16–19] Dt 7:6; 8:6; 10:12–13; 11:22; 14:2; 27:9; 28:1, 9; 29:12–13; Ex 6:7; 19:5–6; 24:7; Lv 26:12; 2 Sm 7:24; Jer 7:23; 31:33; Ez 11:20; Hos 2:23.
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