DEUTERONOMY 16

Observe the month of Abib, and keep a Passover to Yehowah your God; for in the month of Abib Yehowah your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall sacrifice a Passover to Yehowah your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place where Yehowah will choose to make his name dwell. 3 You shall not eat anything leavened with it; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction-for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste-in order that all the days of your life you shall remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 And no leaven shall be seen with you within all- your borders for seven days; and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain all night until the morning. 5 You shall not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which Yehowah your God gives you; 6 but at the place where Yehowah your God will choose to make his name dwell, there you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat-it at the place which Yehowah your God will choose; and in the morning you shall return and go to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to Yehowah your God; you shall do no work on it.

9 You shall count seven weeks for yourselves; from when you begin to put the sickle to the standing corn you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to Yehowah your God with the tribute of a freewill-offering from your hands, which you shall give as Yehowah your God has blessed you; 11 and you shall be glad before Yehowah your God, you, and your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levite who is within your gates, and the settler, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place where Yehowah your God will choose to make his name dwell. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall take care to observe these statutes.

13 You shall keep the Feast of Booths for yourselves for seven days, when you gather in from your threshing-floor and your winepress. 14 And you shall be glad at your feast, you, and your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levite, and the settler, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates. 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to Yehowah your God at the place which Yehowah will choose; because Yehowah your God will bless you with all your produce and all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether glad.

16 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before Yehowah your God at the place which he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. And no one shall appear empty-handed before Yehowah; 17 every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing which Yehowah your God has given you.

18 You shall appoint judges and officers for yourselves to act in all your gates which Yehowah your God gives you, throughout your tribes; and they shall judge the people with the judgment of justice. 19 You shall not pervert judgment; you shall not favour individuals, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and twists the words of the just. 20 Justice and only justice shall you pursue, so that you may live and possess the land which Yehowah your God gives you.

21 You shall not plant any tree as an asherah for yourselves near the altar of Yehowah your God which you shall make for yourselves. 22 Nor shall you set up for yourselves a pillar, which Yehowah your God hates.