Deuteronomy 16
Big idea: Three feasts a year, and the same guest list at each one. Passover in Abib, kept at the chosen place because in that month Yahweh brought you out by night; Weeks, seven weeks after the sickle first goes to the standing grain; and Booths, after the threshing floor and wine press are gathered in. And at each, the command is not merely to attend but to rejoice — you, your son, your daughter, your servants, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow within your gates. The chapter closes with a judicial charge that has outlived its context: you shall make judges in all your gates; you shall not pervert justice, show partiality or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise. You shall follow that which is altogether just.
Chapter 16 appoints judges in every town. Chapter 17 tells them what to do with a case too hard for them — and adds a king who must read the law daily.
16:1–8 — The bread of affliction
Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in that month Yahweh brought you out of Egypt by night. You shall sacrifice the Passover of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to dwell. You shall eat no leavened bread with it — seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for you came out of Egypt in haste, that you may remember the day you came out all the days of your life. No yeast shall be seen in all your borders seven days, and none of the meat sacrificed the first day at evening shall remain until morning. You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, but at the place he chooses to cause his name to dwell, there you shall sacrifice it at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt. You shall roast and eat it in the place he chooses, and in the morning you shall return to your tents. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the seventh day is a solemn assembly, and you shall do no work.
1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you; 6 but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt. 7 You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work.
16:9–17 — Rejoice — you, and everyone in your gates
Count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then keep the feast of weeks with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow who are among you, in the place he chooses to cause his name to dwell. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall observe and do these statutes. You shall keep the feast of booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and wine press; and you shall rejoice in your feast — you, your children, your servants, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow within your gates. Seven days you shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God in the place he chooses, because he will bless you in all your increase and all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. Three times a year all your males shall appear before Yahweh your God — at unleavened bread, at weeks, and at booths — and they shall not appear before him empty. Every man shall give as he is able, according to Yahweh your God's blessing.
9 You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. 11 You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes. 13 You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates. 15 You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. 16 Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you.
16:18–22 — Follow that which is altogether just
You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God's altar which you shall make; neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone, which Yahweh your God hates.
18 You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 21 You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves. 22 Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which Yahweh your God hates.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).