Deuteronomy 26:10-15

26:10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. ¹  26:11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, ²  along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

Presentation of the Third-year Tithe

26:12 When you finish tithing all ³  your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows ⁴  so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. ⁵  26:13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering ⁶  from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. ⁷  I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 26:14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; ⁸  I have obeyed you ⁹  and have done everything you have commanded me. 26:15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors – a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Proverbs 3:9-10

3:9 Honor ¹⁰  the Lord from your wealth

and from the first fruits of all your crops; ¹¹ 

3:10 then your barns will be filled completely, ¹² 

and your vats ¹³  will overflow ¹⁴  with new wine.

Malachi 3:10-11

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹⁵  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all. 3:11 Then I will stop the plague ¹⁶  from ruining your crops, ¹⁷  and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all.

[26:10]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.

[26:11]  ² tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).

[26:12]  ³ tn Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.

[26:12]  ⁴ tn The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).

[26:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “gates.”

[26:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the Lord but, as a third-year tithe, given on this occasion to people in need. Sometimes this is translated as “the sacred portion” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV), but that could sound to a modern reader as if a part of the house were being removed and given away.

[26:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:14]  ⁸ sn These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 335-36.

[26:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord my God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.

[3:9]  ¹⁰ tn The imperative כַּבֵּד (kabbed, “honor”) functions as a command, instruction, counsel or exhortation. To honor God means to give him the rightful place of authority by rendering to him gifts of tribute. One way to acknowledge God in one’s ways (v. 6) is to honor him with one’s wealth (v. 9).

[3:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “produce.” The noun תְּבוּאָה (tÿvu’ah) has a two-fold range of meaning: (1) “product; yield” of the earth (= crops; harvest) and (2) “income; revenue” in general (BDB 100 s.v.). The imagery in vv. 9-10 is agricultural; however, all Israelites – not just farmers – were expected to give the best portion (= first fruits) of their income to Lord.

[3:10]  ¹² tn Heb “with plenty” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “to overflowing.” The noun שָׂבָע (sava’, “plenty; satiety”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner or contents: “completely.”

[3:10]  ¹³ sn This pictures the process of pressing grapes in which the upper receptacle is filled with grapes and the lower one catches the juice. The harvest of grapes will be so plentiful that the lower vat will overflow with grape juice. The pictures in v. 10 are metonymies of effect for cause (= the great harvest that God will provide when they honor him).

[3:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “burst open.” The verb פָּרַץ (parats, “to burst open”) functions as hyperbole here to emphasize the fullness of the wine vats (BDB 829 s.v. 9).

[3:10]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew phrase בֵּית הָאוֹצָר (bet ha’otsar, here translated “storehouse”) refers to a kind of temple warehouse described more fully in Nehemiah (where the term לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה [lishkah gÿdolah, “great chamber”] is used) as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil (Neh 13:5). Cf. TEV “to the Temple.”

[3:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the eater” (אֹכֵל, ’okhel), a general term for any kind of threat to crops and livelihood. This is understood as a reference to a locust plague by a number of English versions: NAB, NRSV “the locust”; NIV “pests”; NCV, TEV “insects.”

[3:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”