Deuteronomy 16

Keep the Passover

1“Keep the month of Abib and make the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out from Egypt by night. 2You will sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God from flock and herd in the place that the LORD will choose to make his name dwell there. 3You will not eat leavened bread with it. Seven days you will eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for in haste you came out from the land of Egypt, so that you may remember the day of your coming out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4No leaven will be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the flesh that you sacrifice in the evening on the first day will remain overnight until morning. 5You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates that the LORD your God is giving you. 6Rather, at the place that the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there, you will sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the appointed time of your coming out from Egypt. 7You will cook it and eat it at the place that the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you will turn and go to your tents. 8Six days you will eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there will be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You will do no work.

The Festival of Weeks

9“You will count seven weeks for yourself. From the time the sickle first begins to cut the standing grain, you will begin to count seven weeks. 10Then you will make the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God with the measure of a freewill offering from your hand, which you will give according to how the LORD your God blesses you. 11You will rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, and the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are in your midst—at the place that the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there. 12You will remember that you were a servant in Egypt, and you will keep and do these statutes.

The Festival of Booths

13“You will make the Festival of Booths for yourself seven days, when you gather in from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14You will rejoice in your festival—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates. 15Seven days you will celebrate to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, for the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you will be altogether joyful.

Three Times a Year

16“Three times in the year every male among you will appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths. No one will appear before the LORD empty-handed. 17Each will give according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

Appoint Judges and Officers

18“You will appoint judges and officers for yourself within all your gates that the LORD your God is giving you according to your tribes, and they will judge the people with righteous judgment. 19You will not distort justice. You will not show partiality, and you will not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. 20Justice, justice you will pursue, so that you may live and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

No Asherah beside the LORD’s Altar

21“You will not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD your God that you make for yourself. 22And you will not set up for yourself a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.