Deuteronomy 16

1 You are to observe the month of Abib and to celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because it was in the month of Abib that the Lord your God led you out of Egypt by night.

Take note of the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God: for in the month of Abib the Lord your God took you out of Egypt by night.

2 The Passover sacrifice from your herd or flock must be offered to the Lord your God in the place where the Lord will choose to live with you.

The Passover offering, from your flock or your herd, is to be given to the Lord your God in the place marked out by him as the resting-place of his name.

3 Don't eat ordinary bread with it. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast with it, the bread of hardship, because you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. This way you'll remember day you left Egypt for the rest of your lives.

Take no leavened bread with it; for seven days let your food be unleavened bread, that is, the bread of sorrow; for you came out of the land of Egypt quickly: so the memory of that day, when you came out of the land of Egypt, will be with you all your life.

4 Don't have yeast anywhere in your country for seven days. Don't keep any of the meat that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day until the morning.

For seven days let no leaven be used through all your land; and nothing of the flesh which is put to death in the evening of the first day is to be kept through the night till morning.

5 Don't sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you.

The Passover offering is not to be put to death in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you:

6 The Passover sacrifice must be offered by you only at the place where the Lord your God will choose to live with you. You are to do this in the evening at sunset-the same time you left Egypt.

But in the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place of his name, there you are to put the Passover to death in the evening, at sundown, at that time of the year when you came out of Egypt.

7 Cook it and eat it in the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning go back to your tents.

It is to be cooked and taken as food in the place marked out by the Lord: and in the morning you are to go back to your tents.

8 Eat bread without yeast for six days, and the on the seventh day you are to have a holy meeting to honor the Lord your God. You are not to do any work.

For six days let your food be unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there is to be a holy meeting to the Lord your God; no work is to be done.

9 Count off seven weeks from when you start the grain harvest.

Let seven weeks be numbered from the first day when the grain is cut.

10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to honor him the Lord your God by giving him a freewill offering, depending on just how much the Lord your God has blessed you.

Then keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, with an offering freely given to him from the wealth he has given you:

11 You will celebrate in the Lord's presence in the place where he will choose to live with you. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your towns, as well as the foreigners, orphans, and widows among you.

Then you are to be glad before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is with you, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you, in the place marked out by the Lord your God as a resting-place for his name.

12 Don't forget that you were once slaves in Egypt, and be careful to follow these regulations.

And you will keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: and you will take care to keep all these laws.

13 Celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days once you have finished threshing your grain and pressing your grapes.

You are to keep the feast of tents for seven days after you have got in all your grain and made your wine:

14 Enjoy your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your towns, as well as the foreigners, orphans, and widows among you.

You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you.

15 Celebrate this Festival for seven days to honor the Lord your God in the place he will choose, because the Lord your God will bless your whole harvest and everything you do, so you will be really happy.

Keep the feast to the Lord your God for seven days, in the place marked out by the Lord: because the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all the produce of your land and all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy.

16 All your men must come before the Lord your God in the place He will choose three times every year: the Festival of Bread without Yeast, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Shelters. No one should come before the Lord without an offering.

Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord your God in the place named by him; at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents: and they are not to come before the Lord with nothing in their hands;

17 Each of you is to bring whatever gift you can, depending on how much the Lord your God has blessed you.

Every man is to give as he is able, in the measure of the blessing which the Lord your God has given you.

18 Choose judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly.

You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness.

19 Don't pervert justice or show favoritism. Don't take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the wise and twists the words of the truthful.

You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.

20 Always do what is right and just, so that you may go on living, occupying the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Let righteousness be your guide, so that you may have life, and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

21 Don't ever set up a wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you build for the Lord your God,

Let no holy tree of any sort be planted by the altar of the Lord your God which you will make.

22 and don't make for yourselves an idolatrous stone pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

You are not to put up stone pillars, for they are hated by the Lord your God.