The Bible

Deuteronomy Chapter 26

¹When you have entered the land which Yahweh your God is giving you for an inheritance, possess it and live there, ²take [some] of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you bring in from your land that Yahweh your God is giving you. Put it in a basket and go to the place where Yahweh your God chooses to cause his name to reside. ³Come to the priest of that time, and tell him, "I declare today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us." ⁴The priest is to take the basket from your hand, and put it down in front of Yahweh your God's altar. ⁵You are to answer and say in Yahweh your God's presence, "My father was a Syrian [about to] perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, [only a] few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. ⁶The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. ⁷Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; ⁹and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰Now see, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me." Set it down in front of Yahweh your God, and worship in Yahweh your God's presence. ¹¹You, the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you, are to rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given [to you, and your] house.

¹²When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you are to give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, so that they can eat within your gates and be filled. ¹³Say in the presence of Yahweh your God, "I have removed the holy things from my house, and have also 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 haven't transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. ¹⁴I have not eaten [any of it whilst] mourning, nor have I removed [any while I was unclean], nor given [any for] the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God' voice. I have done exactly as you have commanded me. ¹⁵Look 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."

¹⁶Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. Therefore keep [them] and do them with all your heart and all your soul. ¹⁷Today you have declared that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. ¹⁸Today Yahweh has declared that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. ¹⁹He 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 said.