Deuteronomy 26:1-6

Firstfruits and Tithes

1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it,

2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name

3 and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”

4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.

6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor.

Deuteronomy 26:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 26

This chapter treats of the basket of firstfruits to be brought and presented to the Lord, and the confession to be made along with it, De 26:1-11; and of the declaration to be made on the third year, the year of tithing, and the prayer annexed to it, De 26:12-15; and of the covenant made in a solemn manner between God and the people of Israel, De 26:16-19.

Cross References

• 1. S Exodus 22:29">Exodus 22:29; Exodus 22:29">Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:16,19; Numbers 18:13; Proverbs 3:9
• 2. S Exodus 20:24; S Deuteronomy 12:5
• 3. S Genesis 20:13
• 4. S Genesis 25:20; Hosea 12:12
• 5. S Genesis 34:30; Genesis 43:14; Genesis 43:1-2; Genesis 45:7,11; Genesis 46:27; Deuteronomy 10:22
• 6. S Genesis 12:2
• 7. S Numbers 20:15; Exodus 1:11,14
• 8. S Exodus 1:13