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Deuteronomy 26

1When you enter the land Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, possess it, and live in it, 2take some of the first of every fruit of the ground that you bring in from your land Yahweh your God is giving you. Put it in a basket and go to the place Yahweh your God chooses for his name to dwell. 3Go to the priest serving in those days and say to him, “Today I declare to Yahweh your God that I have entered the land Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.” 4The priest must take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of Yahweh your God.

5Then you must declare before Yahweh your God: “My father was a perishing Aramean. He went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, strong, and numerous. 6The Egyptians mistreated and afflicted us and imposed hard labor on us. 7We cried out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders. 9He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10And now, look: I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground that you have given me, Yahweh.” Set it before Yahweh your God and bow down before Yahweh your God. 11Rejoice in all the good that Yahweh your God has given you and your household—you, the Levite, and the resident foreigner among you.

12When you finish setting aside the full tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, give it to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the fatherless child, and the widow. They must eat within your towns and be satisfied. 13Then say before Yahweh your God, “I have removed the holy portion from my house and have given it to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the fatherless child, and the widow, according to your whole command that you commanded me. I have not transgressed your commands or forgotten them. 14I have not eaten any of it while mourning, removed any of it while unclean, or given any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh my God. I have done everything you commanded me. 15Look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground you have given us, as you swore to our fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

16This day Yahweh your God commands you to carry out these statutes and judgments. Keep them and do them with all your heart and all your life. 17Today you have declared Yahweh to be your God: you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commands, and his judgments, and listen to his voice. 18Today Yahweh has declared you to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and that you are to keep all his commands, 19and that he will set you high above all the nations he has made, for praise, renown, and glory, and that you will be a people holy to Yahweh your God, as he promised.

Translation notes 6

26:3 — Your God. The speaker addresses the priest as written in the Hebrew text. Some ancient witnesses and translations have “my God,” but the wording has not been changed to make the expression more familiar.

26:5 — A perishing Aramean. The phrase describes the ancestor, normally understood as Jacob, as an Aramean who was lost, imperiled, or on the point of perishing. “A wandering Aramean” is a familiar alternative. The received grammar describes the father rather than saying that an Aramean destroyed him.

26:8 — Hand and arm. The bodily images express Yahweh’s powerful action and are retained. The declaration retells Israel’s distress and rescue as the worshiper’s own shared history.

26:12–14 — The holy portion. The third-year tithe supports the named groups in the towns. The declaration says it has not been used in mourning, impurity, or provision for the dead. It does not explain each forbidden use in detail.

26:16 — Heart and life. The Hebrew word rendered “life” can also describe the person or self. The paired words call for wholehearted obedience with one’s whole life, without dividing a person into separate spiritual and physical parts.

26:17–19 — Mutual declarations. The unusual paired verbs describe Israel’s acknowledgment of Yahweh and Yahweh’s acknowledgment of Israel. “Treasured people” expresses a specially valued possession, carrying both belonging and obligation.