What Does Deuteronomy 26:12 Mean?
When you have finished setting aside the tenth of all that your land brings in, in the third year, the year of the tenth, and have given it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;THE KEY
The tithe reaches its measure when the people at the gate are filled.
THE MEANING
The increase in your hands becomes food for the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates. They eat and are filled, so provision reaches its purpose when the people at the edges are satisfied.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what is set apart for God is removed from ordinary needs: here, the set-apart portion becomes food for hungry people.
THE ROOT
וְשָׂבֵעוּ
veśāveʿū
GROWS FROM
שׂבע
ś-b-ʿ
To be sated or satisfied; to have enough.
“filled” in this verse is veśāveʿū. The Hebrew moves from food to the state that food is meant to create: being full and satisfied. The same verb appears in Deuteronomy 14:29, making satiety the stated endpoint of this provision.
ALSO GROWS
śāvēaʿ: Sated, satisfied
שָׂבֵעַ
This describes the people’s condition after they eat, not merely the presence of food.
śōvaʿ: Fullness, satiety
שֹׂבַע
This noun names the outcome the shared provision reaches: hunger gives way to enough.
מַעֲשֵׂר
maʿăśēr
GROWS FROM
עשר
ʿ-ś-r
Ten; in this word family, to tithe or take a tenth.
“setting aside the tenth” in this verse is maʿăśēr. The Hebrew keeps the counted tenth visible inside the word, binding the portion to the increase it comes from. The verse gives that counted portion a destination: the people named are fed until they are full.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeśer: Ten
עֶשֶׂר
The word for ten makes the tithe’s relation to counted increase audible.
ʿāśar: To tithe, take a tenth
עָשַׂר
This verb names the act of setting aside the portion that the verse then directs toward those who need food.
וְנָתַתָּה
wenātattā
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“given” in this verse is wenātattā. The verb can be heard as placing something where another can receive it. The named people are not abstract recipients: the portion is set within their reach as food.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This verb makes the movement of the tithe concrete: it is placed with the people who will eat.
mattān: Gift, present
מַתָּן
The noun carries the same root into what is given, linking the act of placing provision with the provision itself.
THE PATTERN
Provision reaches its purpose when shared resources meet the needs of people who could otherwise be left without.
The Levite, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and eat and be filled, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands which you do.The LORD guards the sojourners. He upholds the fatherless and the widow. But the way of the wicked he makes crooked.and set them down at the feet of the sent ones, and it was given out to each as anyone had need.THE THREAD
The Levite, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and eat and be filled, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands which you do.Deuteronomy 14:29 uses the same Hebrew root שׂבע (ś-b-ʿ, to be sated or satisfied) as “be filled” here. The parallel makes the tithe’s endpoint clear: the people at the gate eat and reach satiety.
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