< Deuteronomy 26 >

1 It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Adonai your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Adonai your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Adonai your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Adonai your God, that I have come to the land which Adonai swore to our fathers to give us.” 4 The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Adonai your God’s altar. 5 You shall answer and say before Adonai your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt [Abode of slavery], and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6 The Egyptians [people from Abode of slavery] mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7 Then we cried to Adonai, the God of our fathers. Adonai sh'ma ·hear obey· our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 Adonai brought us out of Egypt [Abode of slavery] with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9 and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Adonai, have given me.” You shall set it down before Adonai your God, and hawa ·bow low, prostrate· to worship before Adonai your God. 11 You shall rejoice in all the good which Adonai your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite [Descendant of United with], and the foreigner who is among you. 12 When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite [Descendant of United with], to the foreigner, to the orphan, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled. 13 You shall say before Adonai your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all your mitzvot ·instructions· which you have enjoined me. I have not transgressed any of your mitzvot ·instructions·, neither have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of it in my vain striving of iniquity mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have sh'ma ·heard obeyed· Adonai my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have enjoined me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel [God prevails], and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 16 Today Adonai your God enjoins to you to do these statutes and judgments. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that Adonai is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his mitzvot ·instructions·, and his judgments, and sh'ma ·hear obey· his voice. 18 Adonai has declared today that you are le'am segulah ·people of special treasure· for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his mitzvot ·instructions·. 19 He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in tehilah ·praise song·, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Adonai your God, as he has spoken.

< Deuteronomy 26 >