Deuteronomy 26 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 26:5, 26:8, 26:12, 26:14, 26:19
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Deuteronomy 26
Firstfruits and Tithes
The Offering of Firstfruits
Verse 26:1 Similar
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:1 When you enter the land YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance, possess it, and settle in it,
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:1 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment, inherit it, and settle in it,
Classification & Notes
[Similar] Text: Greek stresses receiving an allotted inheritance; Hebrew names an inheritance and possession. Both introduce settlement in the land.
Verse 26:2 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:2 take some of the first of all the ground’s produce that you bring from the land YHWH your God is giving you. Put it in a basket and go to the place YHWH your God chooses to make His name dwell there.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:2 take some of the firstfruits of your land’s produce, which the Lord your God is giving you. Put it in a basket and go to the place the Lord your God chooses for His name to be invoked there.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew describes the name dwelling at the place; Greek describes its invocation and shortens the produce clause. Both direct the firstfruits to the chosen sanctuary. The description differs, without establishing a different site, offering obligation, or incompatible doctrine of divine presence.
Verse 26:3 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:3 Go to the priest serving in those days and say: Today I declare to YHWH your God that I have entered the land YHWH swore to our fathers to give us.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:3 Go to the priest serving in those days and say: Today I declare to the Lord my God that I have entered the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew addresses the priest with your God; Greek has the offerer’s my God. This changes the expressed viewpoint. Both refer to the same ancestral land oath and worship the same God; the pronoun does not exclude the offerer from the Hebrew covenant.
Verse 26:4 Similar
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:4 The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of YHWH your God.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it before the altar of the Lord your God.
Classification & Notes
[Similar] Text: Greek has plural hands; the presentation agrees.
Verse 26:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:5 Then declare before YHWH your God: My father was an Aramean close to perishing. He went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner, few in number; there he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:5 Then declare before the Lord your God: My father abandoned Syria and went down to Egypt. He lived there as a foreigner, few in number; there he became a great nation and a numerous and great multitude.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Hebrew describes an Aramean and uses oved, perishing or lost, often rendered wandering.
Greek makes Syria the object of the father’s abandoning. Greek also recasts mighty and numerous as a great multitude. Rabbinic Laban readings are reception, not imported into this grammatical rendering.
Rabbinic: Rashi identifies the Aramean as Laban seeking Jacob’s destruction. The Hebrew column retains the participial reading “a perishing Aramean”; the Laban interpretation is separately attributed. Rashi, Deut. 26:5
Verse 26:6 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:6 The Egyptians mistreated and afflicted us and imposed hard service upon us.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:6 The Egyptians mistreated and humiliated us and imposed hard labors upon us.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew has hard service; Greek plural hard works. Affliction and humiliation overlap but retain their respective emphasis.
Verse 26:7 Similar
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:7 We cried to YHWH, the God of our fathers. YHWH heard our voice and saw our affliction, toil, and oppression.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:7 We cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice and saw our humiliation, toil, and distress.
Classification & Notes
[Similar] Text: The threefold description of suffering and divine response agree substantially; Greek emphasizes humiliation and pressure.
Verse 26:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:8 YHWH brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, great terror, signs, and wonders.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:8 The Lord Himself brought us out of Egypt with great strength, a mighty hand, His uplifted arm, great visions, signs, and wonders.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Greek adds Himself and great strength, describes an uplifted rather than outstretched arm, and has great visions or manifestations where Hebrew has great terror. These are substantial changes in the depiction of deliverance.
Verse 26:9 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: The arrival and abundance formula agree.
Verse 26:10 Divergent
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:10 Now, look, I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that You gave me, YHWH. Set it before YHWH your God and bow down before YHWH your God.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:10 Now, look, I have brought the firstfruits of the produce of the land that You gave me, Lord, a land flowing with milk and honey. Leave them before the Lord your God and bow down there before the Lord your God.
Classification & Notes
[Divergent] Text: Greek repeats the milk-and-honey description and adds there; it refers to the presented produce in the plural. Hebrew lacks these expansions here.
Verse 26:11 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:11 Rejoice in all the good YHWH your God has given you and your household—you, the Levite, and the resident foreigner among you.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:11 Rejoice in all the good the Lord your God has given you and your household—you, the Levite, and the resident foreigner among you.
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: Both include your household. The draft omitted it from Greek.
The Third-Year Tithe Declaration
Verse 26:12 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:12 When you finish setting aside the entire tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of tithing, give it to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be satisfied.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:12 When you finish setting aside the entire tithe of your land’s produce in the third year, give the second tithe to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, so that they may eat within your cities and be satisfied.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Hebrew calls the third year the year of tithing; Greek explicitly designates the distributed portion the second tithe. The draft combined both formulations and added rejoicing unsupported by the selected Greek.
Verse 26:13 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:13 Say before YHWH your God: I have removed the sacred portion from the house and given it to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, according to every command You gave me. I have neither transgressed Your commands nor forgotten them.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:13 Say before the Lord your God: I have cleared the sacred things from my house and given them to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, according to all the commands You gave me. I have neither transgressed Your command nor forgotten it.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew has a collective sacred portion and ends with plural commands; Greek has plural sacred things, my house, and a final singular command. Distribution agrees.
Verse 26:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:14 I have not eaten any of it while mourning, removed any while unclean, or given any to the dead. I have obeyed YHWH my God and done everything You commanded me.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:14 I have not eaten any of them in my grief, offered any for an unclean use, or given any to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God and done as You commanded me.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Hebrew describes removal in uncleanness, which may concern the person or portion; Greek describes offering or putting produce to an unclean use. Greek karpoō is not the earlier note’s apportioning verb. Neither text identifies the precise mortuary practice.
Verse 26:15 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:15 Look down from Your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the ground You gave us, as You swore to our fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:15 Look down from Your holy house, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You gave them, as You swore to our fathers to give us a land flowing with milk and honey.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek has holy house, gave them, and an explicit to give us clause. Hebrew has holy dwelling and gave us.
The Covenant Ratified
Verse 26:16 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:16 Today YHWH your God commands you to perform these statutes and judgments. Carefully perform them with all your heart and all your soul.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:16 Today the Lord your God commanded you to perform all these ordinances and judgments. Carefully perform them with all your heart and all your soul.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek adds all before ordinances and changes from singular to plural addressees in the final exhortation. Hebrew remains singular throughout.
Verse 26:17 Divergent
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:17 Today you have declared YHWH to be your God, undertaking to walk in His ways, keep His statutes, commands, and judgments, and obey His voice.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:17 Today you have chosen God to be your God, undertaking to walk in His ways, keep His ordinances and judgments, and obey His voice.
Classification & Notes
[Divergent] Text: Greek says chosen God where Hebrew has the difficult declaration verb with YHWH, and omits commands from the threefold legal list. The mutual commitment continues in verse 18, where both expressly retain all His commands. The omission here does not establish a reduced obligation.
Verse 26:18 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:18 Today YHWH has declared you to be His treasured people, as He promised you, and to keep all His commands,
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:18 Today the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured people, as He told you, to keep all His commands,
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek explicitly describes God’s choosing; Hebrew repeats the declaration verb from verse 17. Both affirm the people’s treasured status and obligation to keep all the commands. The different verb does not establish a contrary covenant relationship.
Verse 26:19 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
26:19 and to set you above all the nations He made, in praise, name, and glory, so that you may be a people holy to YHWH your God, as He promised.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
26:19 and to be above all nations, as He made you renowned, a boast, and glorious, so that you may be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He said.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Hebrew’s made refers to the nations; Greek’s made you refers to Israel and its distinction. The draft replaced the Greek object with the Hebrew nations, concealing a substantial syntactic and conceptual difference.