Chapter 16

¹Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. ²You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ³You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. ⁴There shall be no yeast seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. ⁵You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; ⁶but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt. ⁷You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go to your tents. ⁸Six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God; you shall do no work therein. ⁹Seven weeks shall you number to you: from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain shall you begin to number seven weeks. ¹⁰You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you: ¹¹and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in the midst of you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ¹²You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes. ¹³You shall keep the feast of tents seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress: ¹⁴and you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates. ¹⁵Seven days shall you keep a feast to Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh shall choose; because Yahweh 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 shall all your males appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents; and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty: ¹⁷every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you. ¹⁸Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹You shall not wrest justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. ²⁰That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ²¹You shall not plant you an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make you. ²²Neither shall you set yourself up a pillar; which Yahweh your God hates.