Deuteronomy 26

1 And it shall be when thou comest into the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein,

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

2 that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place that Jehovah thy God will 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 shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the land that Jehovah swore unto 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 shalt speak and say before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Aramaean was my father, and he went down to Egypt with a few, and sojourned there, and 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 evil-entreated 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 looked on our affliction, and our labour, 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 powerful hand, and with a stretched-out 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 hath brought us into this place, and hath 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 fruits of the land, which thou, Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt 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 shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst.

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 hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy produce in the third year, the year of tithing, thou shalt give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat in 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 shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of the house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed nor forgotten [any] of thy commandments:

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 thereof in my mourning, neither have I brought away thereof in uncleanness, nor given thereof for a dead person; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast 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 the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto 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 hath commanded thee to do these statutes and ordinances; and thou shalt 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 hast this day accepted Jehovah to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and to hearken unto 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 hath accepted thee this day to be a people of possession to him, as he hath told thee, and that thou shouldest 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 so that he should make thee high above all the nations which he hath made, in praise and in name and in honour; and that thou shouldest be a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as he hath said.

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.”