Devarim 16:8

8 Sheshet yamim thou shalt eat matzot; and on the yom ha’shevi’i shall be an atzeret (assembly) to Hashem Eloheicha; thou shalt do no melachah (work) therein.

Devarim 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 ) .

Devarim 16:8 In-Context

6 But at the place which Hashem Eloheicha shall choose to place Shmo in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Pesach at erev, at the going down of the shemesh, at the mo’ed (appointed time) that thou camest forth out of Mitzrayim.

7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which Hashem Eloheicha shall choose; and thou shalt turn back in the boker, and go unto thy oholim.

8 Sheshet yamim thou shalt eat matzot; and on the yom ha’shevi’i shall be an atzeret (assembly) to Hashem Eloheicha; thou shalt do no melachah (work) therein.

9 Shivah shavu’ot (seven weeks) shalt thou number unto thee; begin to number the shivah shavu’ot from such time as thou begin to put the sickle to the standing crop.

10 And thou shalt observe Chag Shavuos unto Hashem Eloheicha by giving a terumah (freewill offering) of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto Hashem Eloheicha, according as Hashem Eloheicha hath blessed thee: