Deuteronomy 16:13-22

13 Celebrate the Feast of Shelters for seven days, after you have gathered your harvest from the threshing floor and winepress.

14 Everybody should rejoice at your Feast: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites, strangers, orphans, and widows who live in your towns.

15 Celebrate the Feast to the Lord your God for seven days at the place he will choose, because the Lord your God will bless all your harvest and all the work you do, and you will be completely happy.

16 All your men must come before the Lord three times a year to the place he will choose. They must come at these times: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Shelters. No man should come before the Lord without a gift.

17 Each of you must bring a gift that will show how much the Lord your God has blessed you.

18 Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you; they must judge the people fairly.

19 Do not judge unfairly or take sides. Do not let people pay you to make wrong decisions, because that kind of payment makes wise people seem blind, and it changes the words of good people.

20 Always do what is right so that you will live and always have the land the Lord your God is giving you.

21 Do not set up a wooden Asherah idol next to the altar you build for the Lord your God,

22 and do not set up holy stone pillars. The Lord your God hates them.

Deuteronomy 16:13-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 16

This chapter treats of the three grand yearly festivals, of the feast of passover, when, where, and what was to be sacrificed, how to be dressed, and in what manner to be eaten, De 16:1-8, of the feast of pentecost, when to begin it, where and how it was to be observed, De 16:9-12, and of the feast of tabernacles, when, where, and how long it was to be kept, De 16:13-15, which three times in the year all the males were to appear before the Lord, and not empty, De 16:16,17, an order is given for the appointment of judges in the land, to execute judgment, De 16:18-20, and the chapter is closed with a caution against planting groves, and setting up images, De 16:21,22.