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.

“Observe the month of new grain, at the beginning of springtime, so that you may accomplish the Passover to the Lord your God. For in this month, the Lord your God led you away from Egypt in the 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.

And you shall immolate the Passover to the Lord your God, from sheep and from oxen, in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may dwell there.

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.

You shall not eat it with leavened bread. For seven days you shall eat, without leaven, the bread of affliction. For you departed from Egypt in fear. So may you remember the day of your departure from Egypt, throughout all the days of 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.

No leaven shall be present in all your confines for seven days. And by morning, there shall not remain any of the flesh which was immolated on the first day in the evening.

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

You cannot immolate the Passover in any of your cities, which the Lord your God will give to you, that you wish,

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 only in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may dwell there. You shall immolate the Passover in the evening, upon the setting of the sun, which is the time when you departed from 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.

And you shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God will choose, and, rising up in the morning, you shall go into your tent.

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, you shall eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day, because it is the assembly of the Lord your God, you shall do no work.

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

You shall number for yourself seven weeks from that day, the day on which you put the sickle to the grain field.

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.

And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, to the Lord your God, with a voluntary oblation from your hand, which you shall offer according to the blessing of the Lord your God.

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.

And you shall feast in the sight of the Lord your God: you, your son and your daughter, your man servant and your woman servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the new arrival as well as the orphan and the widow, who abide with you, in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may dwell there.

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

And you shall recall that you were a servant in Egypt. And you shall preserve and carry out the things that have been instructed.

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

Likewise, you shall celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days, when you will have gathered your fruits from the orchard and the winepress.

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.

And you shall feast at the time of your festival: you, your son and daughter, your man servant and woman servant, likewise the Levite and the new arrival, the orphan and the widow, who are within your gates.

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.

For seven days you shall celebrate feasts to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord will choose. And the Lord your God will bless you in all your crops, and in every work of your hands. And you shall be joyful.

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 a year, all your males shall appear in the sight the Lord your God in the place which he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. No one shall appear before the Lord empty.

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

But each one shall offer according to what he will have, according to the blessing of the Lord his God, which he will give to him.

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 shall appoint judges and magistrates at all your gates, which the Lord your God will give to you, throughout each of your tribes, so that they may judge the people with a just judgment,

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.

and not so as to show favoritism to either side. You shall not accept a person’s reputation, nor gifts. For gifts blind the eyes of the wise and alter the words of the just.

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.

You shall justly pursue what is just, so that you may live and possess the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.

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

You shall not plant a sacred grove, nor shall you plant any tree near the altar of the Lord your God;

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

you shall neither make nor set up for yourself a statue. These things the Lord your God hates.”