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Deuteronomy 16

New International Reader’s Version



1 Celebrate the Passover Feast of the LORD your God in the month of Aviv. In that month he brought you out of Egypt at night. 2 Sacrifice an animal from your flock or herd. It is the Passover sacrifice to honour the LORD your God. Sacrifice it at the special place the LORD will choose. He will put his Name there. 3 Don’t eat the animal along with bread made with yeast. Instead, for seven days eat bread made without yeast. It’s the bread that reminds you of how much you suffered. Remember that you left Egypt in a hurry. Remember it all the days of your life. Don’t forget the day you left Egypt. 4 Don’t keep any yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. You will sacrifice the Passover animal on the evening of the first day. Do not let any of its meat be left over until the next morning. 5 You must not sacrifice the Passover animal in just any town the LORD your God is giving you. 6 Sacrifice it only in the special place he will choose for his Name. Sacrifice it there in the evening when the sun goes down. Do it on the same day every year. Be sure it’s the day you left Egypt. 7 Cook the animal and eat it. Do it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat bread made without yeast. On the seventh day come together for a service to honour the LORD your God. Don’t do any work on that day. 



9 Count seven weeks from the time you begin to cut your corn in the field. 10 Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to honour the LORD your God. Give to the LORD anything you choose to give as an offering. Give, just as the LORD has given to you. 11 Be filled with joy in the sight of the LORD your God. Be joyful at the special place he will choose for his Name. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites living in your towns. So should the outsiders and widows living among you. And so should the children whose fathers have died. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Be careful to obey the rules I’m giving you. 



13 Gather the corn from your threshing-floors. Take the fresh wine from your winepresses. Then celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days. 14 Be filled with joy at your feast. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites, the outsiders, and the widows living in your towns. And so should the children whose fathers have died. 15 For seven days celebrate the feast to honour the LORD your God. Do it at the place he will choose. The LORD will bless you when you gather all your crops. He’ll bless you in everything you do. And you will be full of joy. 16 All your men must appear in front of the LORD your God at the holy tent. They must go to the place he will choose. They must do it three times a year. They must go there to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths. None of your men should appear in front of the LORD without bringing something with him. 17 Each of you must bring a gift. Give to the LORD your God, just as he has given to you. 



18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes. Do it in every town the LORD your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly. 19 Do what is right. Treat everyone the same. Don’t take money from people who want special favours. It makes those who are wise close their eyes to the truth. It twists the words of those who have done nothing wrong. 20 Do only what is right. Then you will live. You will take over the land the LORD your God is giving you. 



21 Don’t set up a wooden pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. Don’t set it up beside the altar you build to worship the LORD your God. 22 Don’t set up a sacred stone to honour another god. The LORD your God hates Asherah poles and sacred stones. 

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Deuteronomy 16

English Standard Version



1 “Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. (Ex 12:2; Ex 13:4; Ex 34:18) 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. (Nu 28:19; De 12:5) 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. (Ex 12:11; Ex 13:6; Isa 52:12) 4 No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. (Ex 13:7; Ex 34:25) 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it. (Ex 13:6; Le 23:8; Le 23:36) 



9 “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. (Ex 23:16; Ex 34:22; Le 23:15; Nu 28:26; Ac 2:1) 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. (De 12:15; De 26:1; 2Ch 8:13; 1Co 16:2) 11 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. (De 12:7; De 12:12; De 12:18; De 14:26; Ne 8:9) 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. (De 5:15) 



13 “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. (Ex 23:16; Le 23:34) 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. (De 16:11; Ne 8:9) 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful. (Le 23:39) 16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. (Ex 23:14; Ex 23:15; Ex 23:17; Ex 34:23; De 31:11) 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. (De 16:10; Eze 46:5; Eze 46:11; 2Co 8:12) 



18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. (Nu 11:16; De 1:16; Jos 1:10; 1Ch 23:4; 1Ch 26:29) 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. (Ex 23:2; Ex 23:6; Ex 23:8; Le 19:15; De 1:17; De 24:17; De 27:19; Isa 10:2; Am 5:12) 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 



21 “You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. (Ex 34:13; Jud 6:25; 1Ki 14:15; 1Ki 16:33; 2Ki 13:6; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ch 33:3) 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. 

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