Deuteronomy 16
1OBSERVE the month of New things, and keep the passover to the Lord thy God, because in the month of New things thou didst come out of the land of Egypt, by night.
2And at the passover thou shalt sacrifice to the Lord thy God, sheep, and kine, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose for his name to be there invoked.
3At it thou shalt not eat leaven. Seven days, at it, thou shalt eat unleavened bread—the bread of affliction, because you came in haste out of Egypt, that you may remember the day of your coming out of the land of Egypt, all the days of your life.
4No leaven shall be seen in all thy borders for seven days, and none of the flesh of that which you shall sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall be left till the morning.
5Thou shalt not be at liberty to keep the passover in any of the cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee,
6but only in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, for His name to be there invoked. Thou shalt kill the passover in the evening, at the setting of the sun, in the season thou didst come out of of Egypt.
7And when thou hast cooked, and roasted, and eaten it, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen, in the morning thou mayst return and go home.
8Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be the Exod—a festival to the Lord thy God. On it thou shalt not do any work, but what is necessary for life.
9Seven weeks thou shalt number for thyself—from thy first beginning to put the sickle to the harvest thou shalt begin to number the seven weeks.
10And thou shalt keep the festival of weeks, to the Lord thy God, according to the ability of thy hand—according to what the Lord thy God may have given thee.
11And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow who is among you, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose for His name to be there invoked.
12And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt; therefore thou shalt keep, and perform, these commandments.
13The feast of tabernacles thou shalt keep for thyself seven days. When thou hast gathered in from thy threshing floor, and from thy press,
14thou shalt rejoice at this thy festival, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who is in thy cities.
15Seven days thou shalt celebrate this festival to the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen for himself. So when the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy productions, and in all the works of thy hands, and thou shalt be made glad, every male shall,
16three times in the year, appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord shall choose—at the festival of unleavened bread, and at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of tabernacles. Thou shalt not appear before the Lord thy God empty handed.
17Every one of you shall bring according to the ability of his hand, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which He hath given thee.
18Thou shalt appoint for thyself judges, and promulgators of the law, in the cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee, in every tribe. And they shall administer just judgment to the people.
19They shall not wrest judgment, nor respect persons, nor shall they receive a gift. For gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
20Thou shalt pursue righteously what is right, that you may live, and go in, and possess the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
21Thou shalt not plant a grove for thyself, nor make for thyself a wood near the altar of thy God, nor set up for thyself a pillar: these are things which the Lord thy God hateth.