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Deuteronomy 16

1“Observe the month of Abib and celebrate Passover to Yahweh your God, because in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2Sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God from the flock and herd, at the place Yahweh chooses for his name to dwell. 3You must not eat anything leavened with it. For seven days eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction, because you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4No leaven may be seen with you anywhere in your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening on the first day may remain overnight until morning. 5You may not sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns Yahweh your God is giving you, 6but only at the place Yahweh your God chooses for his name to dwell. There sacrifice the Passover in the evening, as the sun sets, at the appointed time of your departure from Egypt. 7Cook it and eat it at the place Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning turn and go to your tents. 8For six days eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day hold a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You must not do work.

9“Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin counting the seven weeks when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10Celebrate the Festival of Weeks to Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you give, according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. 11Rejoice before Yahweh your God—you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, the Levite within your towns, and the resident foreigner, fatherless, and widow among you—at the place Yahweh your God chooses for his name to dwell. 12Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and keep and carry out these statutes.

13“Celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days, when you gather in from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14Rejoice at your festival—you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, the Levite, resident foreigner, fatherless, and widow within your towns. 15For seven days celebrate the festival to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you will be altogether joyful.

16“Three times a year all your males must appear before Yahweh your God at the place he chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one may appear before Yahweh empty-handed. 17Each is to give according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing Yahweh your God has given you.

18“Appoint judges and officers for your tribes within all your towns Yahweh your God is giving you. They must judge the people with righteous judgment. 19You must not distort justice, show partiality, or take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. 20Justice, justice you must pursue, so that you may live and possess the land Yahweh your God is giving you. 21You must not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourself. 22You must not set up a standing stone for yourself, which Yahweh your God hates.

Translation notes 4

16:1–8 — Passover here. Abib names the month associated with ripening grain. This account includes flock and herd and says “cook”; the verb can mean boil or cook more generally. The English has not changed it to “roast” to match Exodus 12 or removed the cattle. The precise relation between the Passover animal and the festival’s other sacrifices requires interpretation. The six days in verse 8 lead into the seventh-day assembly, alongside verse 3’s seven days of unleavened bread.

16:9–15 — Weeks, booths, and the household. Counting begins with the first sickle in the standing grain. “Booths” refers to temporary shelters. Male and female slaves and the named vulnerable groups join the celebration; their presence is not erased by the later specific attendance duty for males.

16:16–17 — All males and their gifts. The Hebrew specifically names males in this pilgrimage command. “Each is to give” makes the sense of the verbless gift clause explicit. Gifts correspond to the giver’s blessing rather than one uniform sum.

16:18–22 — Justice and cult objects. The repeated “justice, justice” preserves the emphasis. Partiality is “recognizing faces” in Hebrew. “Twists the words” can also concern distorting the case of those in the right. The planted Asherah is associated with a tree or wooden cult object; the exact syntax can also be read as a prohibition of an Asherah of any kind of wood beside the altar.