Deuteronomy
Chapter 16
1 Watch for the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to honor God, because in the month of Abib, God freed you from Egypt during the night.
2 You must therefore sacrifice the Passover to God, from your flocks and herds, at the place God will choose to be honored.
3 Do not eat any bread with yeast for seven days; eat only unleavened bread, the bread of suffering, because you left Egypt quickly. This way, you will remember the day you left Egypt for as long as you live.
4 You must not have any yeast bread with you anywhere in your land for seven days. Also, do not keep any of the meat you sacrifice on the first evening until the next day.
5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns that God gives you.
6 But at the place God chooses for his name to live, there you must offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening, when the sun sets, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.
7 You should cook and eat it in the place God chooses. In the morning, you will return and go to your tents.
8 For six days you will eat bread without yeast, and on the seventh day there will be a special gathering to honor God. You should not do any work on that day.
9 Count seven weeks for yourself; start counting the seven weeks when you begin to cut the grain.
10 Celebrate the Festival of Weeks for God with a gift you choose to give, based on how much God has blessed you.
11 You will be happy in front of God, together with your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, the Levite who lives in your town, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you, in the place God has chosen for His name to be honored.
12 Remember you were a slave in Egypt, and you must follow and obey these laws.
13 Celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days after you have collected your grain and wine.
14 You should be happy during your feast—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your towns.
15 Celebrate a special festival for God for seven days at the place God picks, because God will bless all you earn and all you do, so you will be truly happy.
16 Three times a year, all your men must go to the place God chooses; for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tabernacles. They must not come to God empty-handed.
17 Everyone should give what they can, based on the blessings God has given you.
18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your towns that God gives you, for all your tribes, and they must make fair decisions for the people.
19 You must not twist justice; you must not favor certain people, nor accept bribes, because bribes blind the eyes of the wise and twist the words of the good.
20 Always do what is fair and right so you may live and receive the land God is giving you.
21 Do not plant any kind of trees close to God’s altar that you make for yourself.
22 Do not set up any idol; God hates that.