Deuteronomy

When you enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it,

you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God יהוה is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God יהוה will choose to establish the divine name.

You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God יהוה that I have entered the land that יהוה swore to our fathers to assign us.”

The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God יהוה.

You you See note at 12.7. shall then recite as follows before your God יהוה: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.

The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.

We cried to יהוה, the God of our ancestors, and יהוה heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.

יהוה freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents,

bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, יהוה, have given me.” You shall leave it it I.e., the basket of v. 4. before your God יהוה and bow low before your God יהוה.

And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God יהוה has bestowed upon you and your household.

When you have set aside in full the tenth part of your yield—in the third year, the year of the tithe in the third year, the year of the tithe See Deut. 14.28–29. —and have given it to the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your settlements,

you you See note at 12.7. shall declare before your God יהוה: “I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments:

Meaning of first part of verse uncertain. I have not eaten of it while in mourning, I have not cleared out any of it while I was impure, and I have not deposited any of it with the dead. deposited any of it with the dead No part of the tithe may be left as food for the dead. I have obeyed my God יהוה; I have done just as You commanded me.

Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.”

Your God יהוה commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul.

You have affirmed affirmed Exact nuance of Heb. he’emarta uncertain. this day that יהוה is your God, in whose ways you will walk, whose laws and commandments and rules you will observe, and whom you will obey.

And יהוה has affirmed affirmed See note at v. 17. this day that you are, as promised, God’s treasured people who shall observe all the divine commandments,

and that [God] will set you, in fame and renown and glory, high above all the nations that [God] has made; and that you shall be, as promised, a holy people to your God יהוה.