Deuteronomy26
New International Version
1When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it,
2take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name
3and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.”
4The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.
5Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.
6But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor.
7Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.
8So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.
9He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;
10and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him.
11Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.
12When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
13Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.
14I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me.
15Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
16The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him.
18And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.
19He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 26.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Confession in offering the first-fruits. (1–11). The prayer after disposal of the third year's tithe. (12–15). The covenant between God and the people. (16–19).
vv1-11
When God has made good his promises to us, he expects we should own it to the honour of his faithfulness. And our creature comforts are doubly sweet, when we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise. The person who offered his first-fruits, must remember and own the mean origin of that nation, of which he was a member. A Syrian ready to perish was my father. Jacob is here called a Syrian. Their nation in its infancy sojourned in Egypt as strangers, they served there as slaves. They were a poor, despised, oppressed people in Egypt; and though become rich and great, had no reason to be proud, secure, or forgetful of God. He must thankfully acknowledge God's great goodness to Israel. The comfort we have in our own enjoyments, should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should bless the Lord for the former mercies we remember, and the further mercies we expect and hope for. He must offer his basket of first-fruits. Whatever good thing God gives us, it is his will that we make the most comfortable use we can of it, tracing the streams to the Fountain of all consolation.
vv12-15
How should the earth yield its increase, or, if it does, what comfort can we take in it, unless therewith our God gives us his blessing? All this represented the covenant relation between a reconciled God and every true believer, and the privileges and duties belonging to it. We must be watchful, and show that according to the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus, the Lord is our God, and we are his people, waiting in his appointed way for the performance of his gracious promises.
vv16-19
Moses here enforces the precepts. They are God's laws, therefore thou shalt do them, to that end were they given thee; do them, and dispute them not; do them, and draw not back; do them, not carelessly and hypocritically, but with thy heart and soul, thy whole heart and thy whole soul. We forswear ourselves, and break the most sacred engagement, if, when we have taken the Lord to be our God, we do not make conscience of obeying his commands. We are elected to obedience, 1Pe 1:2; chosen that we should be holy, Eph 1:4; purified a peculiar people, that we might not only do good works, but be zealous in them, Tit 2:14. Holiness is true honour, and the only way to everlasting honour.
Key Words
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
נָתַן: to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
נַחֲלָה: properly, something inherited, i.e. (abstractly) occupancy, or (concretely) an heirloom; generally an estate, patrimony or portion
יָרַשׁ: to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication, to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin
יָשַׁב: properly, to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
רֵאשִׁית: the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit)
Cross References
Deuteronomy 26Verbal echo of Jacob as a Syrian fleeing/sojourning in Syria, demonstrating Israel's humble beginnings.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Defines the third-year tithe given to the Levite, stranger, fatherless, and widow.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The foundational covenant promise that Israel would be a peculiar treasure and holy nation.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
New Testament parallel of Christ purifying for Himself a 'peculiar people' zealous of good works.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The command to bring the first of the firstfruits to the house of the Lord.
Supported by JFB
The place chosen by God to put His name, where offerings are brought and rejoiced over.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The historical account of Jacob going down to Egypt to sojourn with a few.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the prohibition against eating sacred things during mourning, which defiles the offering.
Supported by JFB
Echoes the prayer 'look down from thy holy habitation' in heaven to bless His people.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Instruction to recite the history of Egyptian bondage and deliverance to successive generations.
Supported by John Calvin
Records the affliction and hard bondage laid upon Israel by the Egyptians.
Supported by Matthew Poole
God's promise to deliver Israel into a land flowing with milk and honey.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Priestly laws concerning mourning, clarifying why food for the dead causes uncleanness.
Supported by JFB
Applies the covenant status of a 'chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation' to believers.
Supported by Matthew Henry
David's confession that all things come from God, giving Him only what is His own.
Supported by Matthew Henry