Deuteronomy 16:8

8 Eat bread made without yeast for six days. On the seventh day have a special meeting for the Lord your God, and do not work that day.

Deuteronomy 16:8 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 16:8

Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread
In other places it is ordered to be eaten seven days, ( Exodus 12:15 Exodus 12:19 ) ( Exodus 13:6 Exodus 13:7 ) and here it is not said six only; it was to be eaten on the seventh as on the other, though that is here distinguished from the six, because of special and peculiar service assigned to it, but not because of an exemption from eating unleavened bread on it. The Jews seem to understand this of different corn of which the bread was made, and not of different sort of bread; the Targum of Jonathan is, on the first day ye shall offer the sheaf (the firstfruits of the barley harvest), and on the six days which remain ye shall begin to eat the unleavened bread of the new fruits, and so Jarchi:

and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God;
a holy convocation, devoted to religious exercises, and the people were restrained, according to the sense of the word, from all servile work, as follows:

thou shalt do no work therein;
that is, the business of their callings, their trades and manufactories; they were obliged to abstain from all kind of work excepting what was necessary for the dressing of food, and in this it differed from a sabbath; see ( Exodus 12:16 ) ( Leviticus 23:8 ) .

Deuteronomy 16:8 In-Context

6 but offer it in the place he will choose to be worshiped. Offer it in the evening as the sun goes down, which is when you left Egypt.
7 Roast the meat and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. The next morning go back to your tents.
8 Eat bread made without yeast for six days. On the seventh day have a special meeting for the Lord your God, and do not work that day.
9 Count seven weeks from the time you begin to harvest the grain,
10 and then celebrate the Feast of Weeks for the Lord your God. Bring an offering as a special gift to him, giving to him just as he has blessed you.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.