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Deuteronomy 16

KJV · Chapter 16/34

1Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

2Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there.

3Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

4And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.

5Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee:

6But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

7And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.

8Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.

9Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.

10And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:

11And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there.

12And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

13Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

14And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

15Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

16Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty:

17Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.

18Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

19Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

20That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

21Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

22Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth.

📖 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. Deuteronomy 16:1It opens the festival calendar with the Passover, celebrated in the month of Abib in memory of the night departure from Egypt.
  2. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 16:5The Passover could not be celebrated in just any local town, unlike other ordinary meals.
  6. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 16:7After being cooked and eaten at the sanctuary, the people would only return home the next morning.
  8. Deuteronomy 16:8It closes the Passover week with a day of special solemnity, with no work of any kind.
  9. Deuteronomy 16:9It introduces the next festival: counting seven weeks from when the sickle is first put to the standing grain.
  10. Deuteronomy 16:10At the end of those seven weeks comes the Feast of Weeks, with freewill offerings proportional to the blessing received.
  11. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 16:12The recurring reason appears again: remembering they were slaves in Egypt is what justifies keeping these laws carefully.
  13. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 16:15It reinforces that the seven festival days are an occasion for genuine joy, celebrating the blessing of the year’s full harvest.
  16. Deuteronomy 16:16It summarizes the calendar: three times a year every man was to appear before God, always bringing some offering, never empty-handed.
  17. Deuteronomy 16:17The offering varied according to each person’s means, proportional to the blessing God had already given.
  18. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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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