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Deuteronômio 16

BLIVRE · Chapter 16/34

1Guardarás o mês de Abibe, e farás páscoa ao SENHOR teu Deus: porque no mês de Abibe te tirou o SENHOR teu Deus do Egito de noite.

2E sacrificarás a páscoa ao SENHOR teu Deus, das ovelhas e das vacas, no lugar que o SENHOR escolher para fazer habitar ali seu nome.

3Não comerás com ela levedado; sete dias comerás com ela pão sem levedar, pão de aflição, porque apressadamente saíste da terra do Egito: para que te lembres do dia em que saíste da terra do Egito todos os dias de tua vida.

4E não se deixará ver levedura contigo em todo teu termo por sete dias; e da carne que matares à tarde do primeiro dia, não ficará até a manhã.

5Não poderás sacrificar a páscoa em nenhuma de tuas cidades, que o SENHOR teu Deus te dá;

6Mas sim no lugar que o SENHOR teu Deus escolher para fazer habitar ali seu nome, sacrificarás a páscoa pela tarde ao pôr do sol, ao tempo que saíste do Egito:

7E a assarás e comerás no lugar que o SENHOR teu Deus houver escolhido; e pela manhã te voltarás e irás à tua morada.

8Seis dias comerás pães ázimos, e no sétimo dia será solenidade ao SENHOR teu Deus: não farás obra nele.

9Sete semanas te contarás: desde que começar a foice nas plantações de grãos começarás a contar as sete semanas.

10E farás a solenidade das semanas ao SENHOR teu Deus: da suficiência voluntária de tua mão será o que deres, segundo o SENHOR teu Deus te houver abençoado.

11E te alegrarás diante do SENHOR teu Deus, tu, e teu filho, e tua filha, e teu servo, e tua serva, e o levita que estiver em tuas cidades, e o estrangeiro, e o órfão, e a viúva, que estiverem em meio de ti, no lugar que o SENHOR teu Deus houver escolhido para fazer habitar ali o seu nome.

12E lembra-te que foste servo no Egito; portanto guardarás e cumprirás estes estatutos.

13A solenidade das cabanas farás por sete dias, quando houveres feito a colheita de tua eira e de tua prensa de uvas.

14E te alegrarás em tuas solenidades, tu, e teu filho, e tua filha, e teu servo, e tua serva, e o levita, e o estrangeiro, e o órfão, e a viúva, que estão em tuas povoações.

15Sete dias celebrarás solenidade ao SENHOR teu Deus no lugar que o SENHOR escolher; porque te haverá abençoado o SENHOR teu Deus em todos os teus frutos, e em toda obra de tuas mãos, e estarás certamente alegre.

16Três vezes cada ano comparecerá todo homem teu diante do SENHOR teu Deus no lugar que ele escolher: na solenidade dos pães ázimos, e na solenidade das semanas, e na solenidade das cabanas. E não comparecerá vazio diante do SENHOR:

17Cada um com a doação de sua mão, conforme a bênção do SENHOR teu Deus, que te houver dado.

18Juízes e oficiais te porás em todas tuas cidades que o SENHOR teu Deus te dará em tuas tribos, os quais julgarão ao povo com justo juízo.

19Não distorças o direito; não faças acepção de pessoas, nem tomes suborno; porque o suborno cega os olhos dos sábios, e perverte as palavras dos justos.

20A justiça, a justiça seguirás, para que vivas e herdes a terra que o SENHOR teu Deus te dá.

21Não plantarás árvore que sirva de mastro de idolatria junto ao altar do SENHOR, teu Deus, que fizeres para ti.

22Nem levantarás para ti coluna sagrada de pedra, a qual o SENHOR, teu Deus, odeia.

📖 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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