Deuteronomy16
New King James Version
1“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
2Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name.
3You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.
5“You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you;
6but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.
7And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
8Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.
9“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.
10Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.
11You 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 gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide.
12And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
13“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress.
14And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.
15Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.
16“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
17Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
18“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
20You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
21“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God.
22You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 16.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The yearly feasts. (1–17). Of judges, Groves and images forbidden. (18–22).
vv1-17
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.
vv18-22
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.
Key Words
שָׁמַר: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.
חֹדֶשׁ: the new moon; by implication, a month
אָבִיב: green, i.e. a young ear of grain; hence, the name of the month Abib or Nisan
עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application
פֶּסַח: a pretermission, i.e. exemption; used only techically of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
יָצָא: to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.
מִצְרַיִם: Mitsrajim, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt
לַיִל: properly, a twist (away of the light), i.e. night; figuratively, adversity
Cross References
Deuteronomy 16Establishes the foundational law for all males appearing three times a year before the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Provides the original prescription for roasting and eating the Passover lamb with unleavened bread.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Shows the historical fulfillment of roasting the Passover lambs according to the law at Jerusalem.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Repeats the solemn command for all males to appear before Yahweh at the three major feasts.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Anticipates the central sanctuary 'place which the Lord shall choose' to put His name.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Confirms the sacrificial nature of the Passover, requiring blood to be handled at the altar.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identifies the Feast of Weeks as the harvest feast of firstfruits from your labors.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The central theological motive: remembering Egyptian bondage to motivate obedience, charity, and joyful worship.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Provides the detailed, foundational Levitical law for observing the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallel prohibition against taking bribes, which blind the eyes of those who can see.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Commands the destruction of Canaanite groves, anticipating the ban on planting near God's altar.
Supported by John Calvin
The original institution of the Passover in Egypt during the month of Abib.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Specifies counting seven weeks from the day the wave sheaf of firstfruits was brought.
Supported by JFB
Contrasts God-ordained memorial stones inscribed with the Law with forbidden pagan ritual pillars.
Supported by John Calvin