THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

 

Deuteronomy Chapter 26

1 ¶ After you have entered the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and possess it, and are living in it;

2 You shall take some of the first of all the produce, that you harvest from the land the LORD your God gives you, and put it in a basket, and take it to the place where the LORD your God shall choose to place his name.

3 And you shall go to the one who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give thanks this day to the LORD our God, that I have come to the country which the LORD swore to our fathers that he would give us.

4 And the priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.

5 And you shall say before the LORD your God, My father was a Aramean who was ready to perish, and he went down into Egypt few in number, and there he resided, and became a great and mighty nation, numbering many:

6 And the Egyptians treated us evil, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:

7 And when we cried to the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression:

8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs, and wonders:

9 And he has brought us to this place, and has given us this land, a land that flows with milk and honey.

10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which you, O LORD, have given me. And you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God:

11 And you shall rejoice in every good thing that the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger who is among you.

12 ¶ When you have finished paying all the tithes of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your towns, and be filled;

13 Then you shall say before the LORD your God, I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandments which you have commanded me: I have not transgressed your commandments, nor have I forgotten them:

14 I have not eaten of it while in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it for the dead: but I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that you have commanded me.

15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land which you have given us, as you promised with an oath to our fathers, a land that flows with milk and honey.

16 ¶ Today the LORD your God has commanded you to carry out these statutes and ordinances: therefore you shall keep them and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.

17 Today you have affirmed that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his precepts, and to listen to his voice:

18 And today the LORD has affirmed that you are his special people, as he has promised you, and you are to keep all his commandments;

19 Then he will set you high above all the nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, as he promised.