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Deuteronomy 16

New International Version



1 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. 3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste – so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. 4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning. 5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary[1] of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work. 



9 Count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing corn. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees. 



13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. 16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No-one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. 



18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. 19 Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you. 



21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, 22 and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates. 

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Deuteronomy 16

English Standard Version



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. (Ex 12:2; Ex 13:4; Ex 34:18) 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. (Nu 28:19; De 12:5) 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. (Ex 12:11; Ex 13:6; Isa 52:12) 4 No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. (Ex 13:7; Ex 34:25) 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it. (Ex 13:6; Le 23:8; Le 23:36) 



9 “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. (Ex 23:16; Ex 34:22; Le 23:15; Nu 28:26; Ac 2:1) 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. (De 12:15; De 26:1; 2Ch 8:13; 1Co 16:2) 11 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. (De 12:7; De 12:12; De 12:18; De 14:26; Ne 8:9) 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. (De 5:15) 



13 “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. (Ex 23:16; Le 23:34) 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. (De 16:11; Ne 8:9) 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful. (Le 23:39) 16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. (Ex 23:14; Ex 23:15; Ex 23:17; Ex 34:23; De 31:11) 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. (De 16:10; Eze 46:5; Eze 46:11; 2Co 8:12) 



18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. (Nu 11:16; De 1:16; Jos 1:10; 1Ch 23:4; 1Ch 26:29) 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. (Ex 23:2; Ex 23:6; Ex 23:8; Le 19:15; De 1:17; De 24:17; De 27:19; Isa 10:2; Am 5:12) 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 



21 “You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. (Ex 34:13; Jud 6:25; 1Ki 14:15; 1Ki 16:33; 2Ki 13:6; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ch 33:3) 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. 

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