Deuteronomy
Chapter 26
1
"When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, and have occupied it and settled in it,
2
you shall take some first fruits of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land which the LORD, your God, gives you, and putting them in a basket, you shall go to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the dwelling place of his name.
3
There you shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, 'Today I acknowledge to the LORD, my God, that I have indeed come into the land which he swore to our fathers he would give us.'
4
The priest shall then receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.
5
1 Then you shall declare before the LORD, your God, 'My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous.
6
When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us,
7
we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression.
8
He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders;
9
and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
10
Therefore, I have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me.' And having set them before the LORD, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.
11
Then you and your family, together with the Levite and the aliens who live among you, shall make merry over all these good things which the LORD, your God, has given you.
12
2 "When you have finished setting aside all the tithes of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithes, and you have given them to the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your own community,
13
you shall declare before the LORD, your God, 'I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. In this I have not broken or forgotten any of your commandments:
14
3 I have not eaten any of the tithe as a mourner; I have not brought any of it out as one unclean; I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have thus hearkened to the voice of the LORD, my God, doing just as you have commanded me.
15
Look down, then, from heaven, your holy abode, and bless your people Israel and the soil you have given us in the land flowing with milk and honey which you promised on oath to our fathers.'
16
"This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice.
18
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,
19
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."
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Footnotes

1 [5] Aramean: either in reference to the origin of the patriarchs from Aram Naharaim (cf Genesis 24:10; 25:20; 28:5; 31:20, 24), or merely in the sense of "nomad," in the same way as "Arab" was later used; cf Jeremiah 3:2.

2 [12] And you have given them to the Levite . . . : as prescribed in Deut 14:28-29.

3 [14] These are allusions to pagan religious practices.


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December 09, 2002 Copyright © by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops