Deuteronomy 16:13-22

13 After you have gathered the grain from your threshing floor and made your wine, celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days.
14 Enjoy yourselves at the festival along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities.
15 For seven days you will celebrate this festival dedicated to the LORD your God in the place he will choose. You will enjoy yourselves, because the LORD your God will bless all your harvest and all your work.
16 Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. But no one may come into the presence of the LORD without an offering.
17 Each man must bring a gift in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given him.
18 Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every city that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly.
19 Never pervert justice. Instead, be impartial. Never take a bribe, because bribes blind wise people and deny justice to those who are in the right.
20 Strive for nothing but justice so that you will live and take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
21 When you build the altar for the LORD your God, never plant beside it any tree dedicated to the goddess Asherah.
22 Never set up a sacred stone. These are things the LORD your God hates.

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.

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