Deuteronomy 26:12-15

Presentation of the Third-year Tithe

26:12 When you finish tithing all ¹  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 ²  so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. ³  26:13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering ⁴  from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. ⁵  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; ⁶  I have obeyed you ⁷  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.”

[26:12]  ¹ tn Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.

[26:12]  ² tn The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).

[26:12]  ³ tn Heb “gates.”

[26:13]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:14]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord my God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.