Print

Print


Deuteronomy26:1-15

When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as
an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall
take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest
from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it
in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a
dwelling for his name.  You shall go to the priest who is in office at
that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I
have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us."
When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before
the altar of the LORD your God, you shall make this response before the
LORD your God:  "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into
Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a
great nation, mighty and populous.  When the Egyptians treated us harshly
and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the
God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our
toil, and our oppression.  The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with
signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this
land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  So now I bring the first of the
fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me."  You shall set it
down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.  Then
you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall
celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and
to your house.

When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third
year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the
aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill
within your towns, then you shall say before the LORD your God: "I have
removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the
Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance
with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither
transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments:  I have not eaten of
it while in mourning; I have not removed any of it while I was unclean;
and I have not offered any of it to the dead.  I have obeyed the LORD my
God, doing just as you commanded me.  Look down from your holy habitation,
from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have
given us, as you swore to our ancestors — a land flowing with milk and
honey."