Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 14:29
Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites immediately after instructing them to deposit the third-year tithe within their gates. He outlines how this stored provision operates as a communal support system for residents without land or family protection.
The words — The phrase אֵֽין־ חֵלֶק וְ/נַחֲלָה ('ein- Che.lek ve./na.cha.Lah) translates literally as "not a portion and an inheritance," stating the factual condition that disqualifies the Levite from land ownership. This baseline reason directly qualifies the Levite to draw from the stored third-year tithe.
The thread — The stored-tithe provision for the Levite and vulnerable groups appears in Deuteronomy 14:27–29. The associated promise that God will bless the giver's work runs in Deuteronomy 14:29 and Deuteronomy 15:10. The principle that caring for the poor carries divine repayment is stated in Proverbs 19:17.
Why it lands — The text commands the community to distribute stored agricultural surplus to the Levite, foreigner, fatherless, and widow until they eat their fill. It then states plainly that God will bless the givers' labor in response to this distribution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 15:10 Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.
- Deuteronomy 14:27 And do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
- Proverbs 19:17 Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
- Malachi 3:10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.
- Deuteronomy 12:12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
- Deuteronomy 16:11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
- Deuteronomy 24:19 If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
- Deuteronomy 26:12 When you have finished laying aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat and be filled within your gates.
- Exodus 22:21 You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Leviticus 19:34 You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.