2 that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there;
3 and thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the land that Jehovah swore unto our fathers to give us.
4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God.
5 And thou shalt speak and say before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Aramean was my father, and he went down to Egypt with a few, and sojourned there, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
6 And the Egyptians evil-entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage;
7 and we cried to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression;
8 and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a powerful hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders;
9 and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey!
10 And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the land, which thou, Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God.
11 And thou shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst.
12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy produce in the third year, the year of tithing, thou shalt give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat in thy gates, and be filled;
13 and thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of the house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed nor forgotten [any] of thy commandments:
14 I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I brought away thereof in uncleanness, nor given thereof for a dead person; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 26
With this chapter Moses concludes the particular statutes which he thought fit to give Israel in charge at his parting with them; what follows is by way of sanction and ratification. In this chapter,
Deu 26:1-11
Here is,
Deu 26:12-15
Concerning the disposal of their tithe the third year we had the law before, ch. 14:28, 29. The second tithe, which in the other two years was to be spent in extraordinaries at the feasts, was to be spent the third year at home, in entertaining the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty, that they would dispose of it according to the law, to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless (v. 12), it is therefore required that when at the next feast after they appeared before the Lord they should there testify (as it were) upon oath, in a religious manner, that they had fully administered, and been true to their trust.
Deu 26:16-19
Two things Moses here urges to enforce all these precepts:-