Deuteronomy 16

The Feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Booths

1“Observe 1the month of Abib and 23celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. 34You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember 5all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and 6none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your 7towns which the Lord your God is giving you; 6but 8at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7You shall 9cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. 8Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and 10on the seventh day there shall be 11a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.

9“12You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10Then you shall 13celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; 11and you shall 14rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and 15the Levite who is in your 16town, and 17the stranger and the 18orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. 1219You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

13“20You shall 21celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; 14and you shall 22rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the 23orphan and the widow who are in your 24towns. 15Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

16“25Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and 26they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17Every man 27shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

18“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your 28towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 1929You shall not distort justice; 30you shall not 31be partial, and 32you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that 33you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

21“34You shall not plant for yourself an 35Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. 2236You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates.