Deuteronomy 26

1 Once you've entered the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own, and you take it over and settle there,

And it shall be when you shall have entered into the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit it, and you shall have inherited it, and you shall have lived upon it,

2 take some of the firstfruits of all your crops produced by the land that the Lord your God is giving you and place them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose to live with you,

that you shall take of the first of the fruits of your land, which the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put them into a basket, and you shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have his name called there.

3 and tell the priest in charge at the time, “Today I declare to the Lord your God that I now live in the country that the Lord promised our forefathers to give us.”

And you shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and you shall say to him, I testify this day to the Lord my God, that I am come into the land which the Lord sware to our fathers to give to us.

4 The priest will take the basket from you and place it in front of the altar of the Lord your God.

And the priest shall take the basket out of your hands, and shall set it before the altar of the Lord your God:

5 Then this is what you are to publicly declare before the Lord your God, “My father was a Aramean who moved from place to place. There were only a few of them when he and his family went to live in Egypt. But they became a large and powerful nation.

and he shall answer and say before the Lord your God, My father abandoned Syria, and went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a small number, and became there a mighty nation and a great multitude.

6 But the Egyptians treated us very badly, oppressing us and forcing us to do hard labor.

And the Egyptians afflicted us, and humbled us, and imposed hard tasks on us:

7 We cried out for help to the Lord, the God of our forefathers; and the Lord answered us as he saw how much we were suffering, forced to work so hard in such cruelty.

and we cried to the Lord our God, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our humiliation, and our labour, and our affliction.

8 The Lord led us out of Egypt with his great power and incredible strength and terrifying actions, signs and miracles.

And the Lord brought us out of Egypt himself with his great strength, and his mighty hand, and his high arm, and with great visions, and with signs, and with wonders.

9 He brought us here and gave us this country, a land flowing with milk and honey.

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

10 Look, Lord! I have brought you the firstfruits of the land that you have given me.” You shall place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down in worship before him.

And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the land, which you gave me, O Lord, a land flowing with milk and honey: and you shall leave it before the Lord your God, and you shall worship before the Lord your God;

11 Then you, the Levites, and the foreigners who live with you are to celebrate all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your family.

and you shall rejoice in all the good [things], which the Lord your God has given you, [you] and your family, and the Levite, and the stranger that is within you.

12 Once you've finished storing up a tenth of all your crops in the third year, (the year of the tithe), you shall give it to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, so they will have enough to eat in your towns.

And when you shall have completed all the tithings of your fruits in the third year, you shall give the second tenth to the Levite, and stranger, and fatherless, and widow; and they shall eat it in your cities, and be merry.

13 Then you are to make this declaration in the presence of the Lord your God: “I have brought the holy tithe and I have given it to the Levite, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows as you have ordered me to do. I have not broken or forgotten your commandments.

And you shall say before the Lord your God, I have fully collected the holy things out of my house, and I have given them to the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, according to all commands which you did command me: I did not transgress your command, and I did not forget it.

14 I have not eaten any of the holy tithe while in mourning, or taken any of it while I was unclean, or used any of it as an offering for the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God. I have done everything you ordered me to do.

And in my distress I did not eat of them, I have not gathered of them for an unclean purpose, I have not given of them to the dead; I have listened to the voice of the Lord our God, I have done as you have commanded me.

15 Please look down from your home in heaven, and bless your people the Israelites and the country you have given us as you promised our fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Look down from your holy house, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land which you have given them, as you did swear to our fathers, to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey.

16 Today the Lord your God orders you to carry out these rules and regulations. Make sure you follow them with all your mind and with all your being.

On this day the Lord your God charged you to keep all the ordinances and judgements; and you shall observe and do them, with all your heart, and with all your soul.

17 Today you have publicly declared that the Lord is your God and that you will follow his ways, keep rules and commandments and regulations, and obey what he says.

You have chosen God this day to be your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to observe his ordinances and judgements, and to listen to his voice.

18 Today the Lord has announced that you are a special people who belong to him as he promised. He has announced that you are to keep all his commandments.

And the Lord has chosen you this day that you should be to him a peculiar people, as he said, to keep his commands;

19 He has announced that he will give you greater praise and reputation and honor than any other nation he has made. He has announced that you will be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he promised.

and that you should be above all nations, as he has made you renowned, and a boast, and glorious, that you should be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has spoken.