Deuteronomy 16:8

8 Six days thou shalt eat therf bread; and in the seventh day, for it is the gathering of thy Lord God, thou shalt not do work. (Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day, there shall be a holy gathering to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt not do any work on it.)

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 in the place which thy Lord God choose, that his name dwell there; thou shalt offer pask in the eventide, at the going down of the sun, when thou wentest out of Egypt. (but only in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name shall be there; thou shalt offer the Passover there in the evening, at the going down of the sun, the time when thou wentest out of Egypt.)
7 And thou shalt seethe (thy offering), and eat (it), in the place which thy Lord God hath chosen, and thou shalt rise in the morrowtide of the second day, and thou shalt go into thy tabernacles (and then thou shalt return to thy tents).
8 Six days thou shalt eat therf bread; and in the seventh day, for it is the gathering of thy Lord God, thou shalt not do work. (Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day, there shall be a holy gathering to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt not do any work on it.)
9 Thou shalt number to thee seven weeks, from that day in which thou settedest a sickle into the corn; (Thou shalt count seven weeks, from that day on which thou puttest the sickle to the corn;)
10 and thou shalt hallow the feast day(s) of weeks to thy Lord God, a willful offering of thine hand, which thou shalt offer by the blessing of thy Lord God. (and then thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks, or the Harvest Festival, to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt offer a freewill offering, in proportion to the blessing given thee by the Lord thy God.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.