Deuteronomy 26

1 “And it has been, when you come into the land which your God YHWH is giving to you [for] an inheritance, and you have possessed it and dwelt in it,

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

2 that you have taken from the first of all the fruits of the ground, which you bring in out of your land which your God YHWH is giving to you, and have put [it] in a basket, and gone to the place which your God YHWH chooses to cause His Name to dwell there.

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,

3 And you have come to the priest who is in those days, and have said to him, I have declared to your God YHWH today that I have come into the land which YHWH has sworn to our fathers to give to us;

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.”

4 and the priest has taken the basket out of your hand and placed it before the altar of your God YHWH.

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

5 And you have answered and said before your God YHWH, My father [is] a perishing Aramean! And he goes down to Egypt, and sojourns there with few men, and becomes a great, mighty, and populous nation there;

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.

6 and the Egyptians do us evil, and afflict us, and put hard service on us;

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

7 and we cry to YHWH, God of our fathers, and YHWH hears our voice, and sees our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression;

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.

8 and YHWH brings us out from Egypt by a strong hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great fear, and by signs, and by wonders,

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

9 and He brings us to this place, and gives this land to us—a land flowing with milk and honey.

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

10 And now, behold, I have brought in the first of the fruits of the ground which you have given to me, O YHWH. (And you have placed it before your God YHWH, and bowed yourself before your God YHWH,

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.

11 and rejoiced in all the good which your God YHWH has given to you and to your house—you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who [is] in your midst.)

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.

12 When you complete to tithe all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you have given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within your gates and been satisfied,

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.

13 and you have said before your God YHWH, I have put away the separated thing out of the house, and have also given it to the Levite, and to the sojourner, and to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all Your command which You have commanded me; I have not passed over from Your commands, nor have I forgotten.

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.

14 I have not eaten of it in my affliction, nor have I put away of it for uncleanness, nor have I given of it for the dead; I have listened to the voice of my God YHWH; I have done according to all that You have commanded me;

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.

15 look from Your holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless Your people Israel and the ground which You have given to us, as You have sworn to our fathers—a land flowing [with] milk and honey.

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.”

16 This day your God YHWH is commanding you to do these statutes and judgments; and you have listened and done them with all your heart and with all your soul.

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.

17 Today you have proclaimed YHWH to be to you for God, that [you are] to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commands, and His judgments, and to listen to His voice.

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.

18 And today YHWH has proclaimed you to be to Him for a people, a peculiar treasure, as He has spoken to you, that [you are] to keep all His commands,

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.

19 so as to make you highest above all the nations whom He has made for a praise, and for a name, and for beauty, and for your being a holy people to your God YHWH, as He has spoken.”

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.