Giving the Firstfruits

26 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance,(A) and you take possession of it and live in it, take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you and put it in a basket. Then go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to have his name dwell.(B) When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your[a] God that I have entered the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’

“Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:

My father was a wandering Aramean.(C) He went down to Egypt with a few people and resided there as an alien.(D) There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation. But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, and forced us to do hard labor. So we called out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression.(E) Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders. He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.(F) 10 I have now brought the first of the land’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.

You will then place the container before the Lord your God and bow down to him. 11 You, the Levites, and the resident aliens among you will rejoice(G) in all the good things the Lord your God has given you and your household.

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Footnotes

  1. 26:3 LXX reads my

First Fruits and Tithes

26 “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.(A) 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.(B) When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us,(C) we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.(D) 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;(E) and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.(F) 10 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. 11 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.(G)

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