Deuteronomy26
World English Bible · Public Domain
1It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it,
2that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
3You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.”
4The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Yahweh your God’s altar.
5You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation.
6The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.
7Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
8Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders;
9and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God.
11You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.
12When 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, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled.
13You shall say before Yahweh 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 fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.
14I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me.
15Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
16Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice.
18Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments.
19He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.
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