Deuteronomy 26

1 'And it hath been, when thou comest in unto the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee — an inheritance, and thou hast possessed it, and dwelt 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 hast taken of the first of all the fruits of the ground which thou dost bring in out of thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, and hast put [it] in a basket, and gone unto the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle 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 hast come in unto the priest who is in those days, and hast said unto him, I have declared to-day to Jehovah thy God, that I have come in unto the land which Jehovah hath sworn to our fathers to give to 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 hath taken the basket out of thy hand, and placed it 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 hast answered and said before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Aramaean [is] my father! and he goeth down to Egypt, and sojourneth there with few men, and becometh there a nation, great, mighty, and numerous;

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 do us evil, and afflict us, and put on us hard service;

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 cry unto Jehovah, God of our fathers, and Jehovah heareth our voice, and seeth 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 bringeth us out from Egypt, by a strong hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great fear, and by signs, and by 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 bringeth us in unto this place, and giveth to 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, lo, I have brought in the first of the fruits of the ground which thou hast given to me, O Jehovah; — and thou hast placed it before Jehovah thy God, and bowed thyself 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 rejoiced in all the good which Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner who [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 dost complete to tithe all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then thou hast given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates, and been satisfied,

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 hast said before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the separated thing out of the house, and also have given it to the Levite, and to the sojourner, and to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all Thy command which Thou hast commanded me; I have not passed over from Thy commands, nor have I forgotten.

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 in mine affliction of it, nor have I put away of it for uncleanness, nor have I given of it for the dead; 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 from Thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless Thy people Israel, and the ground which Thou hast given to us, as Thou hast sworn 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 is commanding thee to do these statutes and judgments; and thou hast hearkened and done 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 Jehovah thou hast caused to promise to-day to become thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commands, and His judgments, and to 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 hath caused thee to promise to-day to become His people, a peculiar treasure, as He hath spoken to thee, and to keep all His commands;

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 as to make thee uppermost above all the nations whom He hath made for a praise, and for a name, and for beauty, and for thy being a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as He hath 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.”