Deuteronomy 16
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 1407 BC – 1406 BC · Egypt & the Exodus · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
22 verses · 652 words · ~3 min read · ~4 min listen
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
1Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
2You are to offer to the Lord your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for His Name. 3You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.
4No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.
5You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you. 6You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt. 7And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the Lord your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.
8For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the Lord your God, and you must not do any work.
The Feast of Weeks
9You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. 10And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the Lord your God has blessed you, 11and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
12Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.
The Feast of Tabernacles
13You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
15For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place He will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.
16Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.
Judges and Justice
18You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
19Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
20Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Forbidden Forms of Worship
21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the Lord your God, 22and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
Footnotes (6)
- a v1 Abib was the first month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of March and April; twice in this verse.
- b v10 That is, Shavuot; see footnotes for verse 16.
- c v13 Or Booths or Shelters; see footnotes for verse 16.
- d v16 That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven may be eaten; see Exodus 12:14–20.
- e v16 That is, Shavuot, the late spring feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; it is also known as the Feast of Harvest (see Exodus 23:16) or the Feast of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1).
- f v16 That is, Sukkot, the autumn feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; also translated as the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Shelters and originally called the Feast of Ingathering (see Exodus 23:16and Exodus 34:22).
Study notes on this chapter · 1
The Feast of Weeks and Pentecost
Fifty days after the firstfruits, Israel celebrated the Feast of Weeks with a new grain offering. Luke places the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Greek name for that feast. Jewish tradition also linked the feast with the giving of the law at Sinai, and many Christians see a pairing of law and Spirit, although Acts does not draw it out.
When: Leviticus (Sinai era); Pentecost, c. AD 30–33.
Ways people read this (3)
- The harvest of the Feast of Weeks foreshadows the first harvest of believers at Pentecost.
- Some see a contrast with Sinai: the law on stone and the Spirit in hearts (compare 2 Corinthians 3).
- The link to Sinai is attested in later rabbinic tradition, and may be later than Acts.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.