Deuteronomy 26:1

The ceremony upon entering the land

1 Once you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and are settled there,

Deuteronomy 26:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 26:1

And it shall be, when thou [art] come in unto the land
The land of Canaan, which they were now on the borders of, and just entering into:

which the Lord thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance;
which is often mentioned, to observe that it was not through their merits, but his gift, that they should enjoy the land; and the rather here to enforce the following law concerning the basket of firstfruits:

and possessest it, and dwellest therein;
not only had entered into it, but got the possession of it, and settled there. This shows as Jarchi observes, that they were not bound to the firstfruits till they had subdued the land and divided it; not as soon as they were in it.

Deuteronomy 26:1 In-Context

1 Once you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and are settled there,

2 take some of the early produce of the fertile ground that you have harvested from the land the LORD your God is giving you, and put it in a basket. Then go to the location the LORD your God selects for his name to reside.

3 Go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him: "I am declaring right now before the LORD my God that I have indeed arrived in the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us."

4 The priest will then take the basket from you and place it before the LORD your God's altar.

5 Then you should solemnly state before the LORD your God: "My father was a starving Aramean. He went down to Egypt, living as an immigrant there with few family members, but that is where he became a great nation, mighty and numerous.