Deuteronomy 26:1-12

Deuteronomy 26:1-12 AMP

“Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence). You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the LORD your God. And you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘My father [Jacob] was a wandering Aramean, and he [along with his family] went down to Egypt and lived there [as strangers], few in number; but while there he became a great, mighty and populous nation. And the Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers for help, and He heard our voice and saw our suffering and our labor and our [cruel] oppression; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror [suffered by the Egyptians] and with signs and with wonders; and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, look, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall place it before the LORD your God, and shall worship before the LORD your God; and you and the Levite and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household. “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce the third year, [which is] the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within the gates of your cities and be satisfied.