< Deuteronomy 16 >
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 forth out of Egypt by night.
2 You 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.
3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, 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.
4 No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.
5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which the LORD your God gives you;
6 but 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 forth out of Egypt.
7 You shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go to your tents.
8 Six 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.
9 You shall count for yourselves seven weeks: from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to number seven weeks.
10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as the LORD your God blesses you:
11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD 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 the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there.
12 You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes.
13 You shall keep the feast of tents seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress:
14 and 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.
15 You shall keep a feast to the LORD your God seven days in the place which the LORD shall choose; 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.
16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD 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 the LORD empty:
17 every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you.
18 You 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.
19 You 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.
20 You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.
21 You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourselves.
22 Neither shall you set yourself up a pillar; which the LORD your God hates.