Deuteronômio 16

ARC · Chapter 16/34

1Guarda o mez d'Abib, e celebra a paschoa ao Senhor teu Deus: porque no mez d'Abib o Senhor teu Deus te tirou do Egypto, de noite.

2Então sacrificarás a paschoa ao Senhor teu Deus, ovelhas e vaccas, no logar que o Senhor escolher para ali fazer habitar o seu nome.

3N'ella não comerás levedado: sete dias n'ella comerás pães asmos, pão d'afflicção (porquanto apressadamente saiste da terra do Egypto), para que te lembres do dia da tua saida da terra do Egypto, todos os dias da tua vida.

4Levedado não apparecerá comtigo por sete dias em todos os teus termos: tambem da carne que matares á tarde, no primeiro dia, nada ficará até á manhã

5Não poderás sacrificar a paschoa em nenhuma das tuas portas que te dá o Senhor teu Deus;

6Senão no logar que escolher o Senhor teu Deus, para fazer habitar o seu nome, ali sacrificarás a paschoa á tarde, ao pôr do sol, ao tempo determinado da tua saida do Egypto.

7Então a cozerás, e comerás no logar que escolher o Senhor teu Deus; depois virás pela manhã, e irás ás tuas tendas

8Seis dias comerás pães asmos e no setimo dia é solemnidade ao Senhor teu Deus: nenhuma obra farás.

9Sete semanas contarás; desde que a foice começar na seara começarás a contar as sete semanas.

10Depois celebrarás a festa das semanas ao Senhor teu Deus; o que déres será tributo voluntario da tua mão, segundo o Senhor teu Deus te tiver abençoado.

11E te alegrarás perante o Senhor teu Deus, tu, e teu filho, e tua filha, e o teu servo, e a tua serva, e o levita que está dentro das tuas portas, e o estrangeiro, e o orphão, e a viuva, que estão no meio de ti, no logar que escolher o Senhor teu Deus para ali fazer habitar o seu nome.

12E lembrar-te-has de que foste servo no Egypto: e guardarás estes estatutos, e os farás.

13A festa dos tabernaculos guardarás sete dias, quando colheres da tua eira e do teu lagar.

14E na tua festa te alegrarás, tu, e teu filho, e tua filha, e o teu servo, e a tua serva, e o levita, e o estrangeiro, e o orphão, e a viuva, que estão das tuas portas para dentro.

15Sete dias celebrarás a festa ao Senhor teu Deus, no logar que o Senhor escolher: porque o Senhor teu Deus te ha de abençoar em toda a tua colheita, e em toda a obra das tuas mãos; pelo que te alegrarás certamente.

16Tres vezes no anno todo o macho entre ti apparecerá perante o Senhor teu Deus, no logar que escolher, na festa dos pães asmos, e na festa das semanas, e na festa dos tabernaculos; porém não apparecerá vazio perante o Senhor:

17Cada qual, conforme ao dom da sua mão, conforme á benção do Senhor teu Deus, que te tiver dado.

18Juizes e officiaes porás em todas as tuas portas que o Senhor teu Deus te der entre as tuas tribus, para que julguem o povo com juizo de justiça.

19Não torcerás o juizo, não farás accepção de pessoas, nem tomarás peitas; porquanto a peita cega os olhos dos sabios, e perverte as palavras dos justos

20A justiça, a justiça seguirás; para que vivas, e possuas a terra que te dará o Senhor teu Deus.

21Não plantarás nenhum bosque d'arvores junto ao altar do Senhor teu Deus, que fizeres para ti,

22Nem levantarás estatua, a qual aborrece o Senhor teu Deus.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses details the three annual pilgrimage feasts — Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles — at which every Israelite man was to appear at the place God would choose, and commands the appointment of just and upright judges in every city.

Explanation

The three pilgrimage feasts created regular points of national and spiritual unity, bringing Israelites from different tribes and regions together to celebrate, reinforcing a shared identity beyond local tribal boundaries. The repeated command to include 'the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow' in the celebrations of each feast (not only in the tithes) shows that communal joy before God was meant to be inclusive, not reserved only for the most economically established families. The final instruction on appointing just judges, with the powerful repeated phrase 'justice, justice shalt thou follow,' directly connects religious faithfulness (the feasts) with social and legal integrity (the judicial system) as two inseparable sides of the same covenant with God.

Fun facts

  • The doubling of the word 'justice' in the Hebrew text ('justice, justice shalt thou follow,' v. 20 — rendered in the KJV as 'that which is altogether just shalt thou follow') is a Hebrew rhetorical device of maximum emphasis, used to highlight the absolute, non-negotiable importance of this principle in Israel's communal life.
  • These three pilgrimage feasts continued to be celebrated centrally in Jerusalem throughout the entire temple period, and are mentioned in the New Testament as occasions when Jesus and the apostles traveled to the city (for example, John 7:2 and Acts 2:1).

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronômio 16:1It opens the festival calendar with the Passover, celebrated in the month of Abib in memory of the night departure from Egypt.
  2. Deuteronômio 16:2The Passover here includes sacrificing from “the flock and the herd,” while Exodus 12 speaks only of one lamb or kid per family. It’s a difference in detail that scholars explain as an expansion of the celebration as it became a national pilgrimage feast, not just a household meal.
  3. Deuteronômio 16:3For seven days, only unleavened bread could be eaten — the “bread of affliction” that recalled the haste of the flight from Egypt, year after year.
  4. Deuteronômio 16:4It reinforces the ban on leaven throughout the whole festival week, and requires that none of the sacrificed meat be kept overnight until the next day.
  5. Deuteronômio 16:5The Passover could not be celebrated in just any local town, unlike other ordinary meals.
  6. Deuteronômio 16:6It had to be sacrificed specifically at the place God chose, at sundown, at the same symbolic hour of the departure from Egypt.
  7. Deuteronômio 16:7After being cooked and eaten at the sanctuary, the people would only return home the next morning.
  8. Deuteronômio 16:8It closes the Passover week with a day of special solemnity, with no work of any kind.
  9. Deuteronômio 16:9It introduces the next festival: counting seven weeks from when the sickle is first put to the standing grain.
  10. Deuteronômio 16:10At the end of those seven weeks comes the Feast of Weeks, with freewill offerings proportional to the blessing received.
  11. Deuteronômio 16:11This festival was meant to be an occasion of shared joy, including family, servants, the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
  12. Deuteronômio 16:12The recurring reason appears again: remembering they were slaves in Egypt is what justifies keeping these laws carefully.
  13. Deuteronômio 16:13It presents the third festival of the calendar: the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated for seven days after gathering in from the threshing floor and the winepress.
  14. Deuteronômio 16:14Like the other festivals, this one too was to include the whole vulnerable community — servants, the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
  15. Deuteronômio 16:15It reinforces that the seven festival days are an occasion for genuine joy, celebrating the blessing of the year’s full harvest.
  16. Deuteronômio 16:16It summarizes the calendar: three times a year every man was to appear before God, always bringing some offering, never empty-handed.
  17. Deuteronômio 16:17The offering varied according to each person’s means, proportional to the blessing God had already given.
  18. Deuteronômio 16:18The command to appoint judges and officers in every town, forbidden to take a bribe because “a gift doth blind the eyes,” lays the foundation for a local justice system independent of central power, something unusual among neighboring peoples of that era.
  19. Deuteronômio 16:19It institutes judges and officers in every town, with the clear instruction never to twist justice or take a bribe, which blinds even the wise.
  20. Deuteronômio 16:20It sums this up with a phrase repeated twice for emphasis: pursuing justice is the condition for living and remaining in the land.
  21. Deuteronômio 16:21The ban on planting a “grove” near the altar of the LORD — a tree or pole tied to the goddess Asherah — is a way of physically separating Israelite worship from the most common Canaanite religious symbols in the region.
  22. Deuteronômio 16:22It closes the chapter by forbidding the setting up of sacred stone pillars near the altar, a practice God hates because of its association with pagan worship.

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