New International Version NIV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.
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Observe the month of Abib by celebrating the Passover to God, your God. It was in the month of Abib that God, your God, delivered you by night from Egypt.
2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
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Offer the Passover-Sacrifice to God, your God, at the place God chooses to be worshiped by establishing his name there.
3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.
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Don't eat yeast bread with it; for seven days eat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry - that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt for as long as you live.
4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.
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There is to be no sign of yeast anywhere for seven days. And don't let any of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening be left over until morning.
5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you
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Don't sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns that God, your God, gives you
6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.
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other than the one God, your God, designates for worship; there and there only you will offer the Passover-Sacrifice at evening as the sun goes down, marking the time that you left Egypt.
7 Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents.
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Boil and eat it at the place designated by God, your God. Then, at daybreak, turn around and go home.
8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the LORD your God and do no work.
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Eat unraised bread for six days. Set aside the seventh day as a holiday; don't do any work.
9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.
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Starting from the day you put the sickle to the ripe grain, count out seven weeks.
10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.
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Celebrate the Feast-of-Weeks to God, your God, by bringing your Freewill-Offering - give as generously as God, your God, has blessed you.
11 And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you.
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Rejoice in the Presence of God, your God: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite who lives in your neighborhood, the foreigner, the orphan and widow among you; rejoice at the place God, your God, will set aside to be worshiped.
12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.
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Don't forget that you were once a slave in Egypt. So be diligent in observing these regulations.
13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
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Observe the Feast-of-Booths for seven days when you gather the harvest from your threshing-floor and your wine-vat.
14 Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.
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Rejoice at your festival: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite, the foreigner, and the orphans and widows who live in your neighborhood.
15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
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Celebrate the Feast to God, your God, for seven days at the place God designates. God, your God, has been blessing you in your harvest and in all your work, so make a day of it - really celebrate!
16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed:
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All your men must appear before God, your God, three times each year at the place he designates: at the Feast-of-Unraised-Bread (Passover), at the Feast-of-Weeks, and at the Feast-of-Booths. No one is to show up in the Presence of God empty-handed;
17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.
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each man must bring as much as he can manage, giving generously in response to the blessings of God, your God.
18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.
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Appoint judges and officers, organized by tribes, in all the towns that God, your God, is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly and honestly.
19 Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent.
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Don't twist the law. Don't play favorites. Don't take a bribe - a bribe blinds even a wise person; it undermines the intentions of the best of people.
20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
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The right! The right! Pursue only what's right! It's the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you.
21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God,
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Don't plant fertility Asherah trees alongside the Altar of God, your God, that you build.
22 and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.
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Don't set up phallic sex pillars - God, your God, hates them.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.