WHEN YOU’LL COME
1“And it shall be, when you’ll come to the land that YHWH, your God, is giving you as a legacy, and you’ll take possession of it and live in it,
2that you shall take from the first of all the land’s fruit that you’ll bring in from your land that YHWH, your God, is giving you, and set it in a basket and go to the place that YHWH, your God, will choose to tent His name there.
3And you shall come to the priest who will be in those days and say to him:
I declare today to YHWH, your God, that I’ve come to the land that YHWH swore to our fathers to give to us.
4And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of YHWH, your God.
5And you shall answer and say in front of YHWH, your God:
My father was a perishing Aramean, so he went down to Egypt and resided there with few persons and became a big, powerful, and numerous nation there.
6And the Egyptians were bad to us and degraded us and imposed hard work on us.
7And we cried out to YHWH, our fathers’ God, and YHWH listened to our voice and saw our degradation and our trouble and our oppression.
8And YHWH brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great fear and with signs and with wonders.
9And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10And now, here, I’ve brought the first of the fruit of the land that you’ve given me, YHWH.
And you shall set it down in front of YHWH, your God, and bow in front of YHWH, your God.
11And you shall rejoice in all the good that YHWH, your God, has given to you and to your house, you and the Levite and the alien who is among you.
12“When you’ll finish doing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, and you’ll give it to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, and they’ll eat in your gates and be full,
13then you shall say in front of YHWH, your God:
I have taken away what was holy from the house, and I have also given it to the Levite and to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow according to all your commandment that you’ve commanded me. I have not violated and have not forgotten any of your commandments.
14I have not eaten any of it while I was mourning, and I have not taken any of it away while impure, and I have not given any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of YHWH, my God. I have done according to everything that you commanded me.
26:14. not given any of it to the dead. The person declares that he has not misused his tithed produce in any way that associates it with death or impurity. This disallows offering the dead tithed food; but, as many scholars have observed, this prohibition is not against making other offerings of food to the dead. Giving food (and drink) for dead ancestors was practiced in Israel and Judah at least until the reign of King Hezekiah (c. 700 B.C.E.). Tombs have been excavated (at Megiddo, Hazor, Gezer, Beth-Shemesh, Dothan) that had apertures cut into their ceilings through which it would be possible to give offerings to the dead, or that had storage jars placed directly over the heads of the corpses. Beginning in the tenth century B.C.E., open ceramic bowls and flasks and jars for liquids, store-jars with dipper juglets, plates, cooking pots, and wine decanters were placed in tombs in Judah. The destruction of much of the countryside by the Assyrians, followed by the centralization of worship under Hezekiah, dramatically cut back on this practice.
15Gaze from your holy abode, from the skies, and bless your people, Israel, and the land that you’ve given us as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
16“This day YHWH, your God, commands you to do these laws and judgments. And you shall be watchful and do them with all your heart and all your soul.
26:16. This day. This passage, vv. 16–19, concludes Moses’ speech that began at the start of chapter 5. In it, Moses formally pronounces that the people and God have each made a commitment. The people have declared that YHWH is to be their God and that they will keep His laws and listen to Him. YHWH has declared that Israel is to be His treasured people and that, if they will keep His laws, He will make them a renowned, holy people. The performance of the lengthy corpus of law that Moses has just taught (chapters 12–26, as well as the Decalogue in chapter 5) is thus said to be mutually confirmed by God and the people.
17You have proclaimed YHWH today to be God to you, and to go in His ways and to observe His laws and His commandments and His judgments and to listen to His voice.
18And YHWH proclaimed you today to be a treasured people to Him as He spoke to you—and to observe all His commandments—
19and to set you high above all the nations that He has made in praise and name and beauty, and for you to be a holy people to YHWH, your God, as He spoke.”
