Deuteronomy 26

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26“And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, ^2athat you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and ^bgo to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. ³And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord ¹your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

⁴“Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was ^ca ²Syrian, ^dabout to perish, and ^ehe went down to Egypt and ³dwelt there, ^ffew in number; and there he became a nation, ^ggreat, mighty, and populous. ⁶But the ^hEgyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. ⁷ⁱThen we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. ⁸So ^jthe Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, ^kwith great terror and with signs and wonders. ⁹He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, ^l“a land flowing with milk and honey”; ¹⁰and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’

“Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹So ^myou shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

¹²“When you have finished laying aside all the ⁿtithe of your increase in the third year—^othe year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, ¹³then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the ⁴holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, ^pnor have I forgotten them. ^14qI have not eaten any of it ⁵when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it ⁶for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. ^15rLook down from Your holy ⁷habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, ^s“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

A Special People of God

¹⁶“This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷Today you have ^tproclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will ^uobey His voice. ¹⁸Also today ^vthe Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, ¹⁹and that He will set you ^whigh above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be ^xa ⁸holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”