Deuteronomy chapter 16
The Passover. The Harvest Festival. The Festival of Booths. Judges and Officers. Forbidden worship.
THE PASSOVER
VERSE 1. Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God; for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
keep the Passover. The Passover is permanent, at least on the human scale of time.
VERSE 2. You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
in the place which the LORD shall choose. Much later, this place will be identified as Jerusalem.
VERSE 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.
that you may remember. It is important that they remember.
you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. As they left Egypt, they felt fear.
Fear is a natural human emotion.
VERSE 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.
VERSE 5. You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you;
VERSE 6. but at the place which the LORD 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.
at the place which the LORD your God shall choose. Much later, this place will be identified as Jerusalem.
VERSE 7. You shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents.
VERSE 8. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.
you shall eat unleavened bread. They are required to eat bread.
There is no exemption for someone who is gluten-intolerant.
THE HARVEST FESTIVAL
VERSE 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.
VERSE 10. You shall keep the feast of weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how the LORD your God blesses you.
VERSE 11. You shall rejoice before the LORD 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 the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
You shall rejoice. By divine command, they are required to make merry!
VERSE 12. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.
THE FESTIVAL OF BOOTHS
VERSE 13. You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press.
VERSE 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.
You shall rejoice. By divine command, they are required to make merry!
VERSE 15. You shall keep a feast to the LORD your God seven days in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
VERSE 16. Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before the LORD 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 the LORD empty.
in the place which he chooses. Much later, this place will be identified as Jerusalem.
VERSE 17. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the LORD your God’s blessing which he has given you.
JUDGES AND OFFICERS
VERSE 18. You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
with righteous judgment. They were to administer true justice. What is true justice? The following verses tell us.
VERSE 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.
You shall not pervert justice. By divine command, the people of the LORD God may not obstruct justice.
shall not show partiality. Judges shall not be biased. They cannot spin the truth. Their decisions must be the most noble possible.
VERSE 20. You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.
FORBIDDEN WORSHIP
VERSE 21. You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the LORD your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.
an Asherah. This is forbidden.
VERSE 22. Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which the LORD your God hates.
a sacred stone. This is forbidden.
DEUTERONOMY
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.