Deuteronomy 16
GOD’S WORD Translation
Three Major Festivals
16 Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib. In the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt at night. 2 Slaughter an animal from your flock or herd as the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God. Do this at the place where the Lord will choose for his name to live. 3 Never eat leavened bread with the meat from this sacrifice. Instead, for seven days you must eat unleavened bread at this festival. (It is the bread of misery because you left Egypt in a hurry.) Eat this bread so that, as long as you live, you will remember the day you left Egypt. 4 There should be no yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. Never leave until morning any of the meat you slaughter on the evening of the first day.
5 You’re not allowed to slaughter the animals for Passover in any of the cities the Lord your God is giving you. 6 Instead, slaughter your animals for Passover in the place where the Lord your God will choose for his name to live. Do this in the evening as the sun goes down. This is the same time you did it when you left Egypt. 7 Cook the meat, and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. In the morning you may go back to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day hold a religious assembly dedicated to the Lord your God. Don’t do any work that day.
9 Count seven weeks from the time you start harvesting grain. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God. Bring a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 Enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites who live in your cities, the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. Enjoy yourselves at the place the Lord your God will choose for his name to live. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and obey these laws carefully.
13 After you have gathered the grain from your threshing floor [a] and made your wine, celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days. 14 Enjoy yourselves at the festival along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities. 15 For seven days you will celebrate this festival dedicated to the Lord your God in the place he will choose. You will enjoy yourselves, because the Lord your God will bless all your harvest and all your work.
16 Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. But no one may come into the presence of the Lord without an offering. 17 Each man must bring a gift in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given him.
Administering Justice
18 Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every city that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly. 19 Never pervert justice. Instead, be impartial. Never take a bribe, because bribes blind wise people and deny justice to those who are in the right. 20 Strive for nothing but justice so that you will live and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
21 When you build the altar for the Lord your God, never plant beside it any tree dedicated to the goddess Asherah. 22 Never set up a sacred stone. These are things the Lord your God hates.
Footnotes
- 16:13 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
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