Deuteronomy 26:12

"When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shalt give it unto the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, to the widow, that they may eat within thy gate, and be filled. And thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given thereof for the dead: I have hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey."

Concerning the different tithes mentioned here, see under Deuteronomy 14:22-27 for those in the first paragraph, and under Deuteronomy 14:28,29 for those coming in the third year. This third year tithe was directed to be given to the Levites and to the poor.

"Given thereof for the dead ..." (Deuteronomy 26:14). This was understood by Jewish commentators to mean that no part of the tithe was to be used to provide such things as a coffin, or burial clothes, for the dead.[16] Dummelow, however, thought a more likely meaning is that the instructions forbid "making a funeral feast, after the customs of Egyptians."[17] The Novena, prevalent in some cultures today, would appear to fall into this category.

Any contact with the dead ceremonially defiled; and the chief concern here appears to be that the sacred third-year tithe was not to have been ceremonially defiled in any manner whatsoever. "The dedicated things were to be employed in glad and holy feasting, not therefore for funeral banquets; for death, and all associated with it, were regarded as unclean."[18]