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Deuteronomy 26

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1 And it shall be, when thou art come·​·in to the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest in it;

2 and thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring of thy land that Jehovah thy God gives thee, and shalt set it in a bushel, and shalt go to the place where Jehovah thy God shall choose for His name to be*.

3 And thou shalt come to the priest who shall be in those days, and say to him, Today I tell to Jehovah thy God, that I have come to the land which Jehovah promised to our fathers to give us.

4 And the priest shall take the bushel out of thy hand, and place it before the altar of Jehovah thy God.

5 And thou shalt answer and say before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Syrian was my father, and he went·​·down to Egypt, and sojourned there with a few mortals, and there became a great nation, numerous and many;

6 and the Egyptians did·​·evil to us, and afflicted us, and put upon us hard service;

7 and we cried to Jehovah God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our labor, and our subjugation;

8 and Jehovah brought· us ·out from Egypt with a firm hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great fear, and with signs, and with miracles;

9 and He has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, even a land that flows with milk and honey.

10 And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the ground, which Thou, O Jehovah, hast given to me. And thou shalt place it before Jehovah thy God, and bow·​·down before Jehovah thy God;

11 and thou shalt be·​·glad in every good thing which Jehovah thy God has given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner that is among you.

12 When thou hast completed tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be satisfied;

13 then thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have swept·​·away the holy things out of mine house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the sojourner, to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all Thy commandments which Thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed Thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:

14 I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I swept·​·away ought of it for any unclean use, nor given ought of it for the dead; but I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God, and have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me.

15 Look·​·down from Thy holy abode, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the ground which Thou hast given us, as Thou promised to our fathers, a land that flows with milk and honey.

16 This day Jehovah thy God has commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments; and thou shalt keep and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

17 Thou hast attested* Jehovah today to be thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and to hearken to His voice.

18 And Jehovah has attested* thee today to be for Him a special people, as He has spoken to thee, and that thou keep all His commandments;

19 and to put thee highest above all the nations which He has made, for praise, and for a name, and for adornment; and to be a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as He has spoken.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Journey of the Three Magi to Bethlehem, by Leonaert Bramer

In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through the physical space between to get from one physical place to another physical place. In the spiritual world, however, the "places" we inhabit and the “distances” between them are spiritual realities, which means they are reflections of our thoughts and affections. "Going" from one place to another, then, is a change in spiritual state -- exploring different thoughts and embracing different feelings. Since the Bible is a spiritual book, "going" there also indicates a change or progression in spiritual state, from one mode of thinking and feeling to another mode of thinking and feeling. Obviously, this makes the precise meaning of "go" in the Bible highly dependent on context: Who is going? Where are they going? Why are they going there? Are they following someone or something? Those questions are crucial to the precise meaning. Used on its own, though, "going" represents the normal progression of life, moving through spiritual states as the Lord intends. This has its roots in early Biblical times, when people were nomadic and moved from place to place in a regular progression of life.