The form of words with which the firstfruits and tithes are to be
offered. God’s covenant.
26:1. And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will
give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it:
26:2. Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put them in a
basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose,
that his name may be invocated there:
26:3. And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and
say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I am come
into the land, for which he swore to our fathers, that he would give it
us.
26:4. And the priest taking the basket at thy hand, shall set it before
the altar of the Lord thy God:
26:5. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: The
Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there
in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of
an infinite multitude.
The Syrian.... Laban. See Gen. 27.
26:6. And the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us
most grievous burdens:
26:7. And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: who heard us, and
looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress:
26:8. And brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched
out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders:
26:9. And brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing
with milk and honey.
26:10. And therefore now I offer the firstfruits of the land which the
Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the Lord
thy God, adoring the Lord thy God.
26:11. And thou shalt feast in all the good things which the Lord thy
God hath given thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the
stranger that is with thee.
26:12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the
third year of tithes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the
stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat
within thy gates, and be filled:
26:13. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: I
have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and I have given
it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to
the widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy
commandments nor forgotten thy precepts.
26:14. I have not eaten of them in my mourning, nor separated them for
any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed
the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast
commanded me.
26:15. Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and
bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou
didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
26:16. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these
commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul.
26:17. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in
his ways and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, and judgments, and obey
his command.
26:18. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day, to be his peculiar
people, as he hath spoken to thee, and to keep all his commandments:
26:19. And to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created,
to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayst be a holy
people of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.