Deuteronomy 16
1 “[Each year] honor Yahweh our God by celebrating the Passover [Festival] in the month of Abib [in early spring]. It was on a night in that month that Yahweh rescued your ancestors from Egypt.
Observe the month of new [corn], and you shall sacrifice the passover to the Lord your God; because in the month of new corn you came out of Egypt by night.
2 [In order to celebrate that festival], go to the place that Yahweh will choose [for you to worship him], and offer [there one young animal] from your cattle or your sheep to be the Passover sacrifice, to honor Yahweh [MTY].
And you shall sacrifice the passover to the Lord your God, sheep and oxen in the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have his name called upon it.
3 [When you eat the Passover meal], the bread that you eat must not have yeast in it. You must eat this kind of bread, which will be called the bread of suffering/misery, for seven days. This is to help you to remember all during the time that you are alive that when your ancestors left Egypt, [where they were suffering because they were slaves], they left very quickly. [They did not put in yeast and wait for the dough to swell up].
You shall not eat leaven with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened [bread] with it, bread of affliction, because you came forth out of Egypt in haste; that you may remember the day of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4 [During that festival], you must not have any yeast in any house in your land for seven days. Furthermore, the meat [of the animals] that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day [of the Passover Festival must be eaten during that night]; do not allow any of it to remain until the next day.
Leaven shall not be seen with you in all your borders for seven days, and there shall not be left of the flesh which you shall sacrifice at even on the first day until the morning.
5 “To honor Yahweh our God, you must offer the Passover sacrifice only at the place that he chooses for you [to worship him]; do not offer that sacrifice in any other town in the land that Yahweh is giving to you. Offer that sacrifice when the sun is setting, at the same time of day that your ancestors [started to] leave Egypt.
you shall not have power to sacrifice the passover in any of the cities, which the Lord your God gives you.
But in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to have his name called there, you shall sacrifice the passover at even at the setting of the sun, at the time when you came out of Egypt.
7 Boil [the meat] and eat it at the place [of worship] that Yahweh our God chooses. The next morning, you may return to your tents.
And you shall boil and roast and eat it in the place, which the Lord your God shall choose; and you shall return in the morning, and go to your house.
8 Each day for six days the bread that you eat must have no yeast in it. On the seventh day, you must all gather to worship Yahweh our God. [It will be a day of rest]; you must not do any work on that day.”
Six days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a holiday, a feast to the Lord your God: you shall not do in it any work, save what must be done by any one.
9 “[Each year], from the day that you start to harvest your grain, count seven weeks.
Seven weeks shall you number to yourself; when you have begun [to put] the sickle to the corn, you shall begin to number seven weeks.
10 Then, to honor Yahweh our God, celebrate the Harvest Festival. Do that by bringing to him an offering [of grain]. Yahweh has blessed you [by causing it to grow in your fields during that year]. If you had a big harvest, bring a big offering. If you had a small harvest, bring a small offering.
And you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, accordingly as your hand has power in as many things as the Lord your God shall give you.
11 [Each married couple] should be joyful in the presence of Yahweh. Their children, their servants, the descendants of Levi [who are in that town], and the foreigners, orphans, and widows [who are living among you], should also be joyful. Bring those offerings to the place of worship that Yahweh will choose.
And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son, and your daughter, your man-servant and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow which dwells among you, in whatever place the Lord your God shall choose, that his name should be called there.
12 [“When you celebrate these festivals] by obeying these commands, remember that your ancestors were previously slaves in Egypt.”
And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and you shall observe and do these commands.
13 “[Each year], after you have threshed all your grain and pressed [the juice from] all your grapes, you must celebrate the Festival of [Living in Temporary] Shelters for seven days.
You shall keep for yourself the feast of tabernacles seven days, when you gather in [your produce] from your corn-floor and your wine-press.
14 [Each married couple] along with their children, their servants, the descendants of Levi [who are in that town], and the foreigners, orphans, and widows [who are living among you], should be joyful in the presence of Yahweh.
And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, your man-servant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow that is in your cities.
15 Honor Yahweh our God by celebrating this festival for seven days in the place that Yahweh chooses [for you to worship him]. You should all be joyful, because Yahweh will have blessed your harvest and all the other work that you have done.
Seven days shall you keep a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God shall choose for himself; and if the Lord your God shall bless you in all your fruits, and in every work of your hands, then you shall rejoice.
16 “So, each year all of you Israeli men must gather [with your families] to worship Yahweh our God at the place that he will choose, [to celebrate three festivals]: The Passover Festival, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters. Each of you men must bring [LIT] an offering [for Yahweh to these festivals]
Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord shall choose in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: you shall not appear before the Lord your God empty.
17 in proportion to the blessings that Yahweh has given you [during that year].”
Each one according to his ability, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you.
18 “Appoint judges and other officials throughout your tribes, in all the towns [in the land] that Yahweh our God is giving to you. They must judge people fairly/justly.
You shall make for yourself judges and officers in your cities, which the Lord your God gives you in [your] tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment:
19 They must not judge unjustly. They must not favor one person more than another. The judges must not accept bribes, because if a judge accepts a bribe, even if he is wise and honest, it will be very difficult for him to judge fairly [IDM]; [he will do what the person who gave him the bribe wants him to do and declare that] the righteous/innocent people [must be punished].
they shall not wrest judgment, nor favor persons, nor receive a gift; for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
20 You must be completely fair and just [DOU], in order that you will enter and occupy the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.”
You shall justly pursue justice, that you may live, and go in and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.
21 “When you make an altar to worship Yahweh our God, do not put next to it any wooden statue [that represents] the goddess Asherah.
You shall not plant for yourself a grove; you shall not plant for yourself any tree near the altar of your God.
22 And do not set up any [stone] pillar [to worship any idol, because] Yahweh hates them.”
You shall not set up for yourself a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
