Deuteronomy 16

Listen to Deuteronomy 16

Passover

1 "Observe the 1month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for 2in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or 3the herd, 4at the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there.
3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. 5Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction--for you came out of the land of Egypt 6in haste--that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.
4 7No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, 8nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning.
5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you,
6 but at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.
7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the LORD your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
8 For 9six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be 10a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it.

The Feast of Weeks

9 11"You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.
10 Then you shall keep 12the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with 13the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give 14as the LORD your God blesses you.
11 And 15you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.
12 16You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The Feast of Booths

13 17"You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.
14 18You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.
15 For 19seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
16 20"Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. 21They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
17 Every man 22shall give as he is able, 23according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

Justice

18 "You shall appoint 24judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
19 25You shall not pervert justice. 26You shall not show partiality, 27and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

21 "You shall not plant any tree as 28an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God that you shall make.
22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

Deuteronomy 16 Commentary

Chapter 16

The yearly feasts. (1-17) Of judges, Groves and images forbidden. (18-22)

Verses 1-17 The laws for the three yearly feasts are here repeated; that of the Passover, that of the Pentecost, that of Tabernacles; and the general law concerning the people's attendance. Never should a believer forget his low estate of guilt and misery, his deliverance, and the price it cost the Redeemer; that gratitude and joy in the Lord may be mingled with sorrow for sin, and patience under the tribulations in his way to the kingdom of heaven. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight, as well as our enjoyment. If those who were under the law must rejoice before God, much more we that are under the grace of the gospel; which makes it our duty to rejoice evermore, to rejoice in the Lord always. When we rejoice in God ourselves, we should do what we can to assist others also to rejoice in him, by comforting the mourners, and supplying those who are in want. All who make God their joy, may rejoice in hope, for He is faithful that has promised.

Verses 18-22 Care is taken for the due administration of justice. All personal regards must be laid aside, so that right is done to all, and wrong to none. Care is taken to prevent following the idolatrous customs of the heathen. Nothing belies God more, or tends more to corrupt the minds of men, than representing and worshipping, by an image, that God, who is an almighty and eternal Spirit, present every where. Alas! even in gospel days, and under a better dispensation, established upon better promises, there is a tendency to set up idols, under one form or another, in the human heart.

Cross References 28

  • 1. For ver. 1-8, see Exodus 12:2-39
  • 2. Exodus 13:4; Exodus 34:18
  • 3. Numbers 28:19
  • 4. See Deuteronomy 12:5
  • 5. Exodus 13:6
  • 6. Exodus 12:11; [Isaiah 52:12]
  • 7. Exodus 13:7
  • 8. Exodus 34:25
  • 9. [Exodus 13:6]
  • 10. Leviticus 23:8, 36
  • 11. Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15; Numbers 28:26; [Acts 2:1]
  • 12. 2 Chronicles 8:13
  • 13. See Deuteronomy 26:1-11
  • 14. Deuteronomy 12:15; [1 Corinthians 16:2]
  • 15. Deuteronomy 12:7, 12, 18; Deuteronomy 14:26; See Nehemiah 8:9-12
  • 16. See Deuteronomy 5:15
  • 17. Exodus 23:16; See Leviticus 23:34
  • 18. ver. 11; See Nehemiah 8:9-12
  • 19. Leviticus 23:39
  • 20. Deuteronomy 31:11; Exodus 23:14, 17; Exodus 34:23
  • 21. Exodus 23:15
  • 22. [Ezekiel 46:5, 11; 2 Corinthians 8:12]
  • 23. [See ver. 10 above]
  • 24. Deuteronomy 1:16; Numbers 11:16; Joshua 1:10; 1 Chronicles 23:4; 1 Chronicles 26:29
  • 25. Deuteronomy 27:19; Exodus 23:2, 6; Isaiah 10:2; Amos 5:12; [Leviticus 19:15]; See Deuteronomy 24:17
  • 26. See Deuteronomy 1:17
  • 27. See Exodus 23:8
  • 28. Exodus 34:13; Judges 6:25; 1 Kings 14:15; 1 Kings 16:33; 2 Kings 13:6; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Chronicles 33:3

Chapter Summary

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.

Deuteronomy 16 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.