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The Passover Reviewed

Observe the month of Abib by keeping the passover to the L ord your God, for in the month of Abib the L ord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ²You shall offer the passover sacrifice to the L ord your God, from the flock and the herd, at the place that the L ord will choose as a dwelling for his name. ³You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt. ⁴No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days; and none of the meat of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall remain until morning. ⁵You are not permitted to offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the L ord your God is giving you. ⁶But at the place that the L ord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, only there shall you offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt. ⁷You shall cook it and eat it at the place that the L ord your God will choose; the next morning you may go back to your tents. ⁸For six days you shall continue to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly for the L ord your God, when you shall do no work.

The Festival of Weeks Reviewed

⁹ You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. ¹⁰Then you shall keep the festival of weeks to the L ord your God, contributing a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the L ord your God. ¹¹Rejoice before the L ord your God—you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites resident in your towns, as well as the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who are among you—at the place that the L ord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. ¹²Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and diligently observe these statutes.

The Festival of Booths Reviewed

¹³ You shall keep the festival of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press. ¹⁴Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns. ¹⁵Seven days you shall keep the festival to the L ord your God at the place that the L ord will choose; for the L ord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your males shall appear before the L ord your God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They shall not appear before the L ord empty-handed; ¹⁷all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the L ord your God that he has given you.

Municipal Judges and Officers

¹⁸ You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the L ord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people. ¹⁹You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. ²⁰Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the L ord your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

²¹ You shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole beside the altar that you make for the L ord your God; ²²nor shall you set up a stone pillar—things that the L ord your God hates.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

21. Thou shalt not plant thee. It is plain from the end of this verse that it is part of the Second Commandment. We know ³⁰⁰³⁰⁰ See Lucian in Dea Syria, sub initium; Πρῶτοι μὲν ὦν ἀνθρώπων, τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν, Αἰγύπτιοι λέγονται θεῶν τε ἐννοίαν λαβεὶν, καὶ ἱρὰ εἴσασθαι, καὶ τεμένεα, κ. τ. λ., — Tacitus Germ. 9. “Lucos et nemora consecrant.” Virgil. Eccl. 6:73. “Ne quis sit lucus, quo plus se jactet Apollo." that amongst the heathen nations groves were sacred, so that with them no religious object would receive due reverence, except under the shade of trees. Wherefore lest conformity with this general custom should vitiate the pure worship of God, this distinction was made; and this then is the intent of the prohibition, that the Jews should fly from all strange rites, lest by too closely approaching the Gentiles, they should introduce a sinful medley. But how necessary this prohibition was, appears from their eager imitation (of the heathen), of which mention is constantly made in the sacred history. For there was scarcely any period in which they abstained from “high places.” Nor is it without reason that Isaiah and Jeremiah reprove them for “playing the harlot under every green tree.” (Isaiah 57:5; Jeremiah 2:20; 3:6.)

³⁰⁰ See Lucian in Dea Syria, sub initium; Πρῶτοι μὲν ὦν ἀνθρώπων, τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν, Αἰγύπτιοι λέγονται θεῶν τε ἐννοίαν λαβεὶν, καὶ ἱρὰ εἴσασθαι, καὶ τεμένεα, κ. τ. λ., — Tacitus Germ. 9. “Lucos et nemora consecrant.” Virgil. Eccl. 6:73. “Ne quis sit lucus, quo plus se jactet Apollo."