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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 26:19 and Zephaniah 3:20

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy promises that Israel will be set high above the nations for praise and honor when obedient, and Zephaniah echoes this when describing future restoration. Zephaniah connects his vision of renewal to the covenant promises of Deuteronomy.

Passages

Deuteronomy 26:19

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Zephaniah 3:20

Hebrew Bible
18 “As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals—I took them away from you; they became tribute and were a source of shame to you. 19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you. I will rescue the lame sheep and gather together the scattered sheep. I will take away their humiliation and make the whole earth admire and respect them. 20 At that time I will lead you—at the time I gather you together. Be sure of this! I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you when you see me restore you,” says the Lord.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zephaniah

References

"... Finally, Robertson compares 3:19 and 3:20 ‘And I shall set them for a praise and for a name’ and ‘For I shall set you for a name and for praise among all peoples of the earth’ with Deuteronomy 26:19 ‘And to set you high above all the nations which he has made for a praise and for a name’. It is possible that the resemblances to the book of Deuteronomy stem from the fact that the book of the law of Moses had recently been rediscovered under the reign of Josiah and was the center of religious interest at the time of Zephaniah. The fact that there is a backdrop of Deuteronomical thought to Zephaniah in these two chapters contributes considerably to the coherence of the book, linking the first and third chapters, as the audience would have been able to fill in the linguistic gaps from their prior knowledge of the overall context ..."
Susan Pearson, Zephaniah: Plagiarist or Skilled Orator? (Dallas: SIL International, 2011), 47.

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 26:19 and Zephaniah 3:20

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