Deuteronomy 26:5

You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation.

World English Bible

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WEBBE

You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation.

BSB

and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.

KJV

And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

ASV

And thou shalt answer and say before Jehovah thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

BBE

And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation:

Original Hebrew

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וְעָנִיתָ ve·'a·ni·ta and you will answer H6030 וְאָמַרְתָּ ve·'a·mar·ta and you will say H559 לִפְנֵי lif·nei (to) before H6440 יְהוָה yah·weh Yahweh H3068 אֱלֹהֶיךָ 'e·lo·hei·kha God your H430 אֲרַמִּי 'a·ra·mi [was] an Aramean H761 אֹבֵד 'o·ved wandering H6 אָבִי 'a·vi ancestor my H1 וַיֵּרֶד vai·ye·red and he went down H3381 מִצְרַיְמָה mitz·ray·mah Egypt towards H4714 וַיָּגָר vai·ya·gor and he sojourned H1481 שָׁם sham there H8033 בִּמְתֵי bim·tei (in) men of H4962 מְעָט me·'at fewness H4592 וַיְהִי־ vay·hi- and he became H1961 שָׁם sham there H8033 לְגוֹי le·goy (into) a nation H1471 גָּדוֹל ga·dol great H1419 עָצוּם 'a·tzum mighty H6099 וָרָב va·rav and numerous H7227

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 1–11

When God has made good his promises to us, he expects we should own it to the honour of his faithfulness. And our creature comforts are doubly sweet, when we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise. The person who offered his first-fruits, must remember and own the mean origin of that nation, of which he was a member. A Syrian ready to perish was my father. Jacob is here called a Syrian. Their nation in its infancy sojourned in Egypt as strangers, they served there as slaves. They were a poor, despised, oppressed people in Egypt; and though become rich and great, had no reason to be proud, secure, or forgetful of God. He must thankfully acknowledge God's great goodness to Israel. The comfort we have in our own enjoyments, should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should bless the Lord for the former mercies we remember, and the further mercies we expect and hope for. He must offer his basket of first-fruits. Whatever good thing God gives us, it is his will that we make the most comfortable use we can of it, tracing the streams to the Fountain of all consolation.

Read Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 26 →

Cross-references

People & places

Egypt

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.