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Deuteronomy 16

Deuteronomy 16 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Deuteronomy 16 gathers Israel's worship around God's saving acts and the place he chooses for his name. It sets out the annual feasts, calls for generous participation, and ends with a strong charge to appoint fair judges and reject corrupt worship.

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What happens in Deuteronomy 16?

This chapter begins with Passover and Unleavened Bread, reminding Israel of the night they left Egypt and the need to remember God's rescue. It then turns to the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, both tied to harvest and marked by joy, gratitude, and generosity toward all kinds of people in the community. The chapter also requires the nation to appear before the LORD three times a year with gifts from what God has provided. It closes with commands for judges to act with fairness and for Israel to avoid pagan worship objects near the altar.

Deuteronomy 16 sits in the section where Moses applies the covenant to Israel's life in the land. After laws about release and generosity in chapter 15, this chapter focuses on worship, public justice, and loyalty to the LORD as the people prepare to settle in the land he is giving them.

Themes to notice

  • Remembering redemptionThe feasts keep Israel focused on the LORD's rescue from Egypt and his ongoing care.
  • Joyful worshipThe appointed festivals call the people to rejoice, give, and come before God with gratitude.
  • Fair justiceLeaders are told to judge without bias, bribes, or compromise so the nation can live rightly.

Questions for Deuteronomy 16

  • What do the three annual feasts teach Israel to remember about God?
  • Why does this chapter connect worship with generosity toward the poor and the outsider?
  • What stands out in the commands for judges to pursue justice without partiality?

Read the full text of Deuteronomy 16 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Deuteronomy 16

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

1Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.2You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.3You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.4No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.5You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.6You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.7And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.8For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.

The Feast of Weeks

9You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.10And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you,11and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.12Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.

The Feast of Tabernacles

13You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.14And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.15For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.16Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.17Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.

Judges and Justice

18You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.19Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.20Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,22and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

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