Deuteronomy 26

1 And it shall be, when thou have come in to the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell in it,

“After you occupy the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, and you (have settled/are living) there,

2 that thou shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shall bring in from thy land that Jehovah thy God gives thee, and thou shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

[each of] you must take some of the first crops that you harvest, put them in a basket, and take them to the place that Yahweh will have chosen for you to worship [MTY] there.

3 And thou shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and say to him, I profess this day to Jehovah thy God, that I have come to the land which Jehovah swore to our fathers to give us.

Go to the Supreme Priest who is serving at that time and say to him, ‘[By giving you this first part of my harvest] today, I am declaring to Yahweh our God that I have [picked it in] the land that he vowed to our ancestors to give to us.’

4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God.

Then the priest must take the basket of food from your hand and put it on the altar where sacrifices are offered to Yahweh our God.

5 And thou shall answer and say before Jehovah thy God, My father was a Syrian ready to perish, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number. And he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

Then in Yahweh’s presence you must say this: ‘My ancestor [Jacob] was a man from Aram/Syria who was continually wandering [from one place to another]. He took his family to Egypt. They were a small group [when they went there], but they lived there and their descendants became a very large/populous [DOU] and powerful nation.

6 And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.

Then the people of Egypt treated them very harshly [DOU], and they forced them to become their slaves and to work very hard.

7 And we cried to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression.

Then our ancestors cried out to you, Yahweh our God, and you heard them. You saw that they were suffering, and that they were forced to work very hard, and were being oppressed.

8 And Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.

Then by your great power [MTY] and by performing many kinds of miracles [DOU], and other terrifying things, you brought them out of Egypt.

9 And he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

You brought us to this land and gave it to us, a land that is very fertile [IDM].

10 And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Jehovah, have given me. And thou shall set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God.

So now, Yahweh, I have brought to you the first part of the harvest from the land that I received.’ Then you must set the basket down in Yahweh’s presence and worship him there.

11 And thou shall rejoice in all the good which Jehovah thy God has given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is in the midst of thee.

And you must celebrate [by eating a meal together to thank] Yahweh our God for all the good things that he has given to you and to your family. And you must invite the descendants of Levi and the foreigners who are living among you to also rejoice [and eat] with you.

12 When thou have made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shall give it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled.

Every third year, you must bring to the descendants of Levi and to the foreigners [who are living among you] and the orphans and the widows (a tithe/10 percent) of your crops, in order that in every town they will have plenty to eat.

13 And thou shall say before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

Then you must say to Yahweh, ‘I have brought to you, from my house, all of the sacred tithe [from my harvest this year]. I am giving it to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, as you commanded us to do. I have not disobeyed any of your commands [about the tithes], and I have not forgotten any of your commands [about tithes].

14 I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away from it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God. I have done according to all that thou have commanded me.

[I declare that] I have not eaten any food from the tithe while I was mourning [for someone who died]. And I have not touched any of it while I was unacceptable to you; I have not offered any of it to [spirits of] dead people. Yahweh, I have obeyed you and done everything that you have commanded us [concerning the tithe].

15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou have given us, as thou swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

So [please] look down from your holy place in heaven, and bless us, your Israeli people. Also bless this very fertile [IDM] land which you have given to us, which is what you promised our ancestors that you would do.’

16 This day Jehovah thy God commands thee to do these statutes and ordinances. Thou shall therefore keep and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

Today Yahweh our God is commanding you to obey all these rules and regulations. So obey them faithfully, with your entire inner being [DOU].

17 Thou have avouched Jehovah this day to be thy God, and that thou would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and hearken to his voice.

Today you have declared that Yahweh is your God, and that you will conduct your lives as he wants you to do, and that you will obey all his commands and rules and regulations, and that you will do all that he tells you to do.

18 And Jehovah has avouched thee this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised thee, and that thou should keep all his commandments,

And today Yahweh has declared that you are his people, which is what he promised that you would be, and he commands you to obey all his commands.

19 and to make thee high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou may be a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as he has spoken.

If you do that, he will cause you to become greater than any other nation that he has established, and he will enable you to praise him and honor him [DOU]. You will truly belong to Yahweh our God, which is what he has promised.”