(1) When you enter the land that your God יקוק is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it,(2) you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God יקוק is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God יקוק will choose to establish the divine name.(3) You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God יקוק that I have entered the land that יקוק swore to our fathers to assign us.”(4) The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God יקוק.

(5) You*you shall then recite as follows before your God יקוק: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.(6) The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.(7) We cried to יקוק, the God of our ancestors, and יקוק heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.(8) יקוק freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents,(9) bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.(10) Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, יקוק, have given me.” You shall leave it*it I.e., the basket of v. 4. before your God יקוק and bow low before your God יקוק.(11) And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God יקוק has bestowed upon you and your household.

(1) וענית is an expression for raising one’s voice (speaking loudly) (Sotah 32b).(2) ארמי אבד אבי A SYRIAN DESTROYED MY FATHER — He mentions the loving kindness of the Omnipresent saying, ארמי אבד אבי, a Syrian destroyed my father, which means: “Laban wished to exterminate the whole nation” (cf. the Haggadah for Passover) when he pursued Jacob. Because he intended to do it the Omnipresent accounted it unto him as though he had actually done it (and therefore the expression אבד which refers to the past is used), for as far as the nations of the world are concerned the Holy One, blessed be He, accounts unto them intention as an actual deed (cf. Sifrei Devarim 301:3; Onkelos).(3) וירד מצרימה AND HE WENT DOWN INTO EGYPT — But there were others, too, “who came against us to destroy us” (cf. the Passover Haggadah), for afterwards Jacob went down into Egypt with his children and these were enslaved there).(4) במתי מעט WITH A FEW PERSONS — with only seventy souls (Sifrei Devarim 301:4; Onkelos).

How were the bikkurim taken up [to Jerusalem]? All [the inhabitants of] the cities of the maamad would assemble in the city of the maamad, and they would spend the night in the open street and they would not enter any of the houses. Early in the morning the officer would say: “Let us arise and go up to Zion, into the house of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 31:5).

Those who lived near [Jerusalem] would bring fresh figs and grapes, while those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins. An ox would go in front of them, his horns bedecked with gold and with an olive-crown on its head. The flute would play before them until they would draw close to Jerusalem. When they drew close to Jerusalem they would send messengers in advance, and they would adorn their bikkurim. The governors and chiefs and treasurers [of the Temple] would go out to greet them, and according to the rank of the entrants they would go forth. All the skilled artisans of Jerusalem would stand up before them and greet them saying, “Our brothers, men of such and such a place, we welcome you in peace.”

The flute would play before them, until they reached the Temple Mount. When they reached the Temple Mount even King Agrippas would take the basket and place it on his shoulder and walk as far as the Temple Court. When he got to the Temple Court, the Levites would sing the song: “I will extol You, O Lord, for You have raised me up, and You have not let my enemies rejoice over me” (Psalms 30:2).

Originally all who knew how to recite would recite while those who did not know how to recite, others would read it for them [and they would repeat the words]. But when they refrained from bringing, they decreed that they should read the words to both those who could and those who could not [recite so that they could repeat after them].

The rich would bring their bikkurim in baskets overlaid with silver or gold, while the poor used wicker-baskets of peeled willow-branches, and the baskets and the bikkurim were given to the priest.