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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 26

1 When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, 2 you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he chooses to locate his name. 3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord promised to our ancestors to give us.” 4 The priest will then take the basket from you and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. 7 So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. 8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. 9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 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. 11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you. 12 When you finish tithing all 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 so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 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;⁠ I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.⁠ 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.” 16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. 17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 19 Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor.⁠ You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 26:15 and 1 Enoch 9:1

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In the prayer of Deuteronomy 26, the petitioner asks God to look down from heaven and respond to human faithfulness. In 1 Enoch, four angels look down from heaven instead of God, showing how 1 Enoch adapts biblical themes to give angels a larger role.

Passages

Deuteronomy 26:15

Hebrew Bible
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; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me. 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.” 16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

1 Enoch 9:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed on the earth, and all the lawlessness being committed on the earth. 2 They said to one another: 'The earth, left without inhabitants, cries out, and the voice of their crying reaches the gates of heaven.' 3 'And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men plead, saying, "Present our case before the Most High."'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... 1 Enoch 9:1 ... An expansive paraphrase of Genesis 6:11 begins this section. This first reference to the flood story (Genesis 6:5–9:28) provides a link to Genesis 6:14 by identifying the deeds of the giants as the violence that brought on the flood. Different from Gen 6:11 (and 6:5), here it is the four archangels who see the violence on earth. The expression “looked down from the sanctuary of heaven and saw”, reflects a stereotyped formula of prayer (compare Deuteronomy 26:15; Isaiah 63:15; 1 Baruch 2:16) and thus attributes to the four angels what common piety requested of God ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 206.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 26:15 and 1 Enoch 9:1

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