Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Deuteronomy 14:24

in Deuteronomy 14

But if the distance is too great for you to carry that with which the LORD your God has blessed you, because the place where the LORD your God will choose to put His Name is too far away,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God shall bless thee;

KJV

And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:

⋯

This verse in Deuteronomy 14

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase

on Deuteronomy 14:22-27

Numbers 18:21 gave the tithe to the Levites, and the tithe here is eaten by the man who brings it, at the place the Lord shall choose to place his name. Readers have taken that two ways: the older Jewish reckoning, which Josephus and Clarke follow, counts a second tithe distinct from the Levites' tenth, while others read one tithe described from another angle in another book. When the road is long the produce may be sold, the money bound up in the hand and carried, and spent at the sanctuary on oxen, sheep, wine or strong drink, whatsoever thy soul desireth. The reason attached to the meal is that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always, which makes the feast itself the lesson.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and that money must be laid out in something to feast upon before the Lord. The comfortable cheerful using of what God has given us, with temperance and sobriety, is really the honouring of God with it.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And if the way be too long for thee,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed--The dedication of a tenth part of the year's produce in everything was then a religious duty. It was to be brought as an offering to the sanctuary; and, where distance prevented its being taken in kind, it was by this statute convertible into money.

How the passage was read

On Deuteronomy 14:22-29

On Deuteronomy 14:22-29

The tithe system behind the mint and cumin

The Torah's tithe was agricultural: a tenth of grain, wine, and oil, eaten before the LORD or given, in the third year, to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. The oral tradition extended the duty far beyond the named crops. The Mishnah's tractate on tithes opens with the general rule: “whatever is food, and is looked after, and grows from the land, is liable for tithes” (Maasrot 1:1). Under that rule even kitchen herbs were tithed, a scruple carried out leaf by leaf.

That is the practice behind Jesus' words about tithing “mint and dill and cumin” (Matthew 23:23). Read His sentence whole: “these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” He affirms the scruple and indicts the inversion of weight, the tithed herb beside the neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. The woe is about proportion, not about tithing.

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Sources: Mishnah Maasrot 1:1 (the general rule of tithes)

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְכִֽי־and if

    vekhi-H3588 →4482 times

  • יִרְבֶּ֨הit will be [too] great

    yirbehH7235 →227 times

  • מִמְּךָ֜for you

    mimekhaH4480 →1188 times

  • הַדֶּ֗רֶךְthe journey

    haderekhH1870 →707 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תוּכַ֘לyou will be able

    tukhalH3201 →194 times

  • שְׂאֵתוֹ֒to carry it

    seetoH5375 →656 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יִרְחַ֤קit will be [too] far

    yirchakH7368 →

  • מִמְּךָ֙for you

    mimekhaH4480 →1188 times

  • הַמָּק֔וֹםthe place

    hamakomH4725 →401 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רwhere

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יִבְחַר֙he will choose

    yivcharH977 →171 times

  • יְהוָ֣הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָGod your

    ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times

  • לָשׂ֥וּםto put

    lasumH7760 →584 times

  • שְׁמ֖וֹname his

    shemoH8034 →864 times

  • שָׁ֑םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • יְבָרֶכְךָ֖he will bless you

    yevarekhaH1288 →330 times

  • יְהוָ֥הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃God your

    ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Deuteronomy 12:21If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.4 worksDeuteronomy 12:5Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.3 worksExodus 23:31And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.2 worksDeuteronomy 11:24Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 12:5

    Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 26:2

      you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 12:11

      then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all…

    • 2 Chronicles 7:12

      the LORD appeared to him at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

    • Deuteronomy 16:2

      You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 11:24

    Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 14:9

      On that day Moses swore to me, saying, ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD…

    • Exodus 23:31

      And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you…

    • Genesis 15:18–21

      On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

  • Through

    Exodus 23:31

    And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you…

    it leads to

    • Genesis 15:18

      On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 14 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 14 →