16 “Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh your God from among your flock and herd at the place that Yahweh will choose, to let his name dwell there. 3 You shall not eat with it[a] anything leavened; seven days you shall eat with it[b] unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen with[c] you in any of your territory[d] for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5 You are not allowed to offer the Passover sacrifice in one of your towns[e] that Yahweh your God is giving to you, 6 but only at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there; you shall offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening at sunset,[f] at the designated time[g] of your going out from Egypt. 7 And you shall cook, and you shall eat it at the place that Yahweh your God will choose; and you may turn in the morning and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be an assembly for Yahweh your God; you shall not do work.
9 “You shall count off seven weeks for you; from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain[h] you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 And then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you shall give just as Yahweh your God has blessed you. 11 And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite that is in your towns[i] and the alien and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place that Yahweh your God will choose to let his name dwell there. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so you shall diligently observe[j] these rules.
13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for yourselves[k] seven days at the gathering in of the produce[l] from your threshing floor and from your press; 14 and you shall rejoice at your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns.[m] 15 Seven days you shall celebrate your feast to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose, for Yahweh your God shall bless you in all of your produce[n] and in all of the work of your hand, and you shall surely be rejoicing.[o] 16 Three times in the year all of your males shall appear before [p] Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before Yahweh[q] empty-handed. 17 Each person shall give as he is able,[r] that is, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you.
18 “You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your towns[s] that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people righteous judgments.[t] 19 You shall not subvert[u] justice; you shall not show partiality;[v] and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind the eyes of the wise and misrepresents the words of the righteous. 20 Justice, only justice[w] you shall pursue, so that you may live, and you shall take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. 21 You shall not plant for yourselves[x] an Asherah pole[y] beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.[z] 22 And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, a thing that Yahweh your God hates.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 16:3 Literally “in addition to” or “upon it”
- Deuteronomy 16:3 Literally “in addition to” or “upon it”
- Deuteronomy 16:4 Or “for”
- Deuteronomy 16:4 Or “all of” your territory
- Deuteronomy 16:5 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:6 Literally “in the evening as the sun goes/sets”
- Deuteronomy 16:6 The Hebrew word here indicates the specific time that God had chosen to bring Israel out of Egypt
- Deuteronomy 16:9 Literally “from the beginning of the sickle against the standing grain”
- Deuteronomy 16:11 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:12 Literally “you shall observe and do”
- Deuteronomy 16:13 Hebrew “for you”
- Deuteronomy 16:13 Literally “at your gathering of the produce”
- Deuteronomy 16:14 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:15 Or “increase”
- Deuteronomy 16:15 Or “joyful”
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Literally “with the face of”
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Literally “with the face of Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 16:17 Literally “according to the gift of his hand”
- Deuteronomy 16:18 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:18 Literally “a judgment based on righteousness”
- Deuteronomy 16:19 Or “distort/pervert”
- Deuteronomy 16:19 Literally “recognize faces”
- Deuteronomy 16:20 Literally “justice justice”
- Deuteronomy 16:21 Hebrew “for/to you” but with collective meaning
- Deuteronomy 16:21 Literally “an Asherah of any wood/tree”
- Deuteronomy 16:21 Hebrew “for/to you” but with collective meaning