Deuteronomy 26:12

Summary

The verse instructs that when a person finishes setting aside the full tithe of produce in the third year — designated "the year of the tithe" — that tithe is to be given to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within the towns and be satisfied.

Key words

• te.kha.Leh ("you will finish", H3615G) — piel imperfect, marking the completion of the tithing action as the condition triggering what follows.
• ma'.Sar ("tithe of", H4643) — construct noun, linked to te.vu.'a.te.kha ("your produce") to specify exactly what portion is being separated.
• sha.Nah... she.li.Shit ("year... third", H8141/H7992) — the ordinal modifies "year," fixing the timing of this particular tithe cycle.
• na.ta.Tah ("you will give", H5414G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun by the conditional clause; it marks the required action following completion of the tithe.
• sa.Ve.'u ("they will be satisfied", H7646) — qal sequential perfect, the final verb in the chain, describing the resulting state of the recipients.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle ki ("if", H3588A), introducing a temporal/conditional clause built on te.kha.Leh ("you will finish", H3615G) governing the infinitive la'.ser ("to tithe", H6237). This infinitive construction, combined with the object kol-ma'.Sar te.vu.'a.te.kha ("all the tithe of your produce"), specifies the completed action: setting aside the full tithe. The phrase ba.sha.Nah ha.she.li.Shit she.Nat ha.ma.'a.Ser ("in the third year, the year of the tithe") uses two overlapping temporal expressions — an ordinal modifying "year" and a construct phrase "year of the tithe" — both identifying the same specific year.

The main clause then follows through a chain of vav-sequential perfects: na.ta.Tah ("you will give"), 'a.khe.Lu ("they will eat"), and sa.Ve.'u ("they will be satisfied"). This verbal chain carries forward the force of the initial conditional, producing a sequence of consequence: completion of tithing leads to giving, which leads to eating, which leads to satisfaction. The recipients are listed with repeated prepositions la- ("to the"): le.Vi ("Levite", H3881), Ger ("sojourner", H1616), ya.Tom ("fatherless one", H3490), and 'al.ma.Nah ("widow", H0490) — a fixed group of dependents without inherited land portion in the land-tenure framework implied by the tithe system. The final verbs 'a.khe.Lu and sa.Ve.'u describe the effect of the gift within she.'a.Rei.kha ("your gates", H8179H), meaning the local settlements.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew kol-ma'.Sar ("all the tithe") as πᾶν τὸ ἐπιδέκατον καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἐπιδέκατον ("the tenth, the second tenth"), introducing the phrase "second tithe," which is not explicit in the Hebrew construct phrase itself. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "decimam cunctarum frugum" ("the tithe of all your fruits"), without adding "second." The Hebrew she.'a.Rei.kha ("your gates") is rendered by the LXX as ταῖς πόλεσίν σου ("your cities") and by the Vulgate as "portas tuas" ("your gates"), reflecting a translation choice between the literal image of gates and the broader sense of towns.