Deuteronomy's Passover instructions uniquely expand the original lamb sacrifice to include cattle offerings, transforming Egypt's household ritual into Israel's centralized temple worship.
Deuteronomy 16
The Passover
1Observe 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.
2You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
3You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.
5You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you;
6but at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt.
7You shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents.
8Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.
The Festival of Weeks
9You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks.
10You shall keep the feast of weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how the LORD your God blesses you.
11You shall rejoice before the LORD your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
12You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.
The Festival of Booths
13You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press.
14You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates.
15You shall keep a feast to the LORD your God seven days in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
16Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty.
17Every man shall give as he is able, according to the LORD your God’s blessing which he has given you.
Appointment of Judges
18You shall make 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 righteous judgment.
19You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.
20You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Forbidden Forms of Worship
21You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the LORD your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.
22Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which the LORD your God hates.
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Theme
Deuteronomy 16 establishes Israel's three major annual festivals—Passover, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths—emphasizing centralized worship at God's chosen place and inclusive celebration that extends to servants, foreigners, and the marginalized. Moses prescribes specific regulations for each festival, linking them to Israel's agricultural calendar and redemptive history, particularly the exodus from Egypt. The chapter concludes with instructions for appointing righteous judges and prohibiting idolatrous worship practices, connecting proper festival observance with just governance and pure worship.
Context
This chapter continues Moses' second discourse by transitioning from dietary laws in chapter 14-15 to festival regulations, leading toward the judicial and worship purity laws that follow in chapters 17-18.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-8 The Passover Festival Instructions for observing Passover with unleavened bread at the central sanctuary, commemorating the exodus from Egypt.
- 9-12 The Festival of Weeks Seven weeks after harvest begins, Israel shall celebrate with freewill offerings and inclusive rejoicing, remembering their slavery in Egypt.
- 13-17 The Festival of Booths A seven-day celebration after the harvest featuring universal joy and mandatory male attendance at all three annual festivals.
- 18-20 Appointment of Judges Commands to establish righteous judges in every town who will pursue justice impartially without corruption.
- 21-22 Forbidden Worship Practices Prohibition against setting up Asherah poles or sacred stones that would corrupt proper worship of the Lord.
The Passover
16:1–16:8 law instruction solemn
Instructions for observing the Passover festival, commemorating God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt through specific sacrificial and dietary requirements.
theme_rarity
Deuteronomy's Passover instructions uniquely expand the original lamb sacrifice to include cattle offerings, transforming Egypt's household ritual into Israel's centralized temple worship.
The Festival of Weeks
16:9–16:12 law instruction joyful
Instructions for the Festival of Weeks, emphasizing freewill offerings, communal joy, and inclusion of all people including servants and foreigners.
theme_rarity
Deuteronomy uniquely links freewill offerings with radical social inclusion, making the Festival of Weeks one of only two biblical passages where sacrificial giving explicitly serves compassionate community-building.
The Festival of Booths
16:13–16:17 law instruction celebratory
Instructions for the Festival of Booths and the requirement for all males to appear before the Lord three times yearly with appropriate offerings.
theme_rarity
Moses uniquely links joyful celebration with mandatory generosity, commanding that festival rejoicing must include society's most vulnerable—servants, foreigners, orphans, and widows.
Appointment of Judges
16:18–16:20 law instruction solemn
Commands for appointing judges and officers who must administer righteous judgment without partiality, bribery, or corruption.
structural
The Hebrew word "mishpat" (justice) appears three times in these three verses, creating an intensifying repetition that emphasizes justice as both the method and goal of judicial administration.
Forbidden Forms of Worship
16:21–16:22 law instruction warning
Prohibition against planting Asherah poles or setting up sacred stones, which are forbidden forms of worship that God hates.
structural
The Hebrew verb "hate" (שָׂנֵא) appears only here in Deuteronomy's cultic laws, creating the strongest emotional language against idolatrous worship practices in the entire legal corpus.
Insights
Deuteronomy uniquely links freewill offerings with radical social inclusion, making the Festival of Weeks one of only two biblical passages where sacrificial giving explicitly serves compassionate community-building.
Moses uniquely links joyful celebration with mandatory generosity, commanding that festival rejoicing must include society's most vulnerable—servants, foreigners, orphans, and widows.
The Hebrew word "mishpat" (justice) appears three times in these three verses, creating an intensifying repetition that emphasizes justice as both the method and goal of judicial administration.
The Hebrew verb "hate" (שָׂנֵא) appears only here in Deuteronomy's cultic laws, creating the strongest emotional language against idolatrous worship practices in the entire legal corpus.
Cross-References
Connected passages across Scripture
Deuteronomy 16:2 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 14:23 Lexical
You shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grai…
Deuteronomy 12:21 Lexical
If the place which the LORD your God shall choose to put his name is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd…
Exodus 20:24 Lexical
You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your s…
2 Chronicles 35:7 Lexical
Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings,…
1 Kings 1:9 Lexical
Adonijah killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his br…
Deuteronomy 16:3 2 references
Deuteronomy 16:4 5 references
Lexicals 5
Exodus 16:8 Lexical
Moses said, “Now the LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because the…
Exodus 12:15 Lexical
“‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever…
Exodus 13:7 Lexical
Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you. No yeast shall…
Exodus 23:18 Lexical
“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until…
1 Kings 17:6 Lexical
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
Deuteronomy 16:6 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 14:23 Lexical
You shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grai…
Deuteronomy 12:11 Lexical
then it shall happen that to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you…
Deuteronomy 26:2 Lexical
that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that the L…
Nehemiah 1:9 Lexical
but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the he…
Deuteronomy 12:5 Lexical
But to the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his…
Deuteronomy 16:8 3 references
Lexicals 3
Exodus 35:2 Lexical
‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the…
Exodus 31:15 Lexical
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work…
Leviticus 23:3 Lexical
“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no k…
Deuteronomy 16:11 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 12:18 Lexical
but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: you, your son, your d…
Deuteronomy 14:29 Lexical
The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherles…
Deuteronomy 26:12 Lexical
When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you…
Deuteronomy 26:13 Lexical
You shall say before the LORD your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to th…
Jeremiah 22:3 Lexical
The LORD says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no…
Deuteronomy 16:13 3 references
Lexicals 3
Leviticus 23:34 Lexical
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven…
Deuteronomy 31:10 Lexical
Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of…
Leviticus 23:39 Lexical
“‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the fea…
Deuteronomy 16:14 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 26:12 Lexical
When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you…
Deuteronomy 14:29 Lexical
The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherles…
Deuteronomy 26:13 Lexical
You shall say before the LORD your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to th…
Deuteronomy 12:18 Lexical
but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: you, your son, your d…
Deuteronomy 12:12 Lexical
You shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants,…
Deuteronomy 16:15 1 reference
Deuteronomy 16:16 5 references
Lexicals 5
2 Chronicles 8:13 Lexical
even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths, on the new moons…
Exodus 23:15 Lexical
You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the t…
Ezekiel 45:21 Lexical
“‘“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavene…
Exodus 34:23 Lexical
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
Exodus 23:17 Lexical
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
Deuteronomy 16:18 4 references
Lexicals 4
Joshua 24:1 Lexical
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their jud…
Isaiah 11:4 Lexical
but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the ea…
Isaiah 16:5 Lexical
A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking jus…
Leviticus 19:15 Lexical
“‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you…
Deuteronomy 16:19 4 references
Lexicals 4
Exodus 23:8 Lexical
“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
Proverbs 17:23 Lexical
A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.
1 Samuel 8:3 Lexical
His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
Proverbs 24:23 Lexical
These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
Deuteronomy 16:21 2 references
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language
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Lemma
Morphology
Semantic Range
Theological Significance
Translation Notes
Key Passages
Historical Context
Places and events in this chapter
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Timeline
Exodus
c. 1446 BCIsrael's miraculous deliverance from Egyptian slavery under Moses' leadership, including the ten plagues and Red Sea crossing. This foundational event established Israel as God's chosen nation.
The Passover festival commemorates God's deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
The Passover