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Presentation of the Third-year Tithe

12 When you finish tithing all[a] your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows[b] so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages.[c] 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering[d] from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me.[e] I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead;[f] I have obeyed you[g] and have done everything you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 26:12 tn Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.
  2. Deuteronomy 26:12 tn The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).
  3. Deuteronomy 26:12 tn Heb “gates.”
  4. Deuteronomy 26:13 tn Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the Lord but, as a third-year tithe, given on this occasion to people in need. Sometimes this is translated as “the sacred portion” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV), but that could sound to a modern reader as if a part of the house were being removed and given away.
  5. Deuteronomy 26:13 tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  6. Deuteronomy 26:14 sn These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 335-36.
  7. Deuteronomy 26:14 tn Heb “the Lord my God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.

12 “When you are finished giving a tithe,[a] all of the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and they may be satisfied. 13 And you shall say before[b] Yahweh your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the[c] house and, moreover, I have given it to the Levite and to the alien and to the orphan and to the widow according to all your commandment that you commanded me; I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten any of them. 14 I have not eaten during my time of mourning, and I have not removed anything from it while being unclean, and I have not offered any of it[d] to someone who has died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me to do. 15 Look down from the dwelling place of your holiness, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land that you have given to us, as you swore to our ancestors,[e] a land flowing with milk and honey.’

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 26:12 Literally “to give a tenth”
  2. Deuteronomy 26:13 Literally “to the face of”
  3. Deuteronomy 26:13 Or “my” house since the definite article can show possession here
  4. Deuteronomy 26:14 Literally “from it”
  5. Deuteronomy 26:15 Or “our fathers”