The Lantern

Deuteronomy16

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Keep 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 out of Egypt by night.

And you shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place that the LORD chooses to make his name dwell there.

You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction — for in haste you came out of the land of Egypt — so that you may remember the day of your coming out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

And no leaven shall be seen with you in all your border seven days; and none of the flesh that you sacrifice in the evening on the first day shall stay overnight until morning.

You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates that the LORD your God is giving you,

but at the place that the LORD your God chooses to make his name dwell — there you shall sacrifice the Passover, in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at the appointed time of your coming out of Egypt.

And you shall cook it and eat it in the place that the LORD your God chooses; and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

Six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day is a solemn gathering to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.

The Feast of Weeks

Seven weeks you shall count for yourself; from the time the sickle first touches the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks.

And you shall keep the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God, with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you give, as the LORD your God blesses you.

And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God — you, and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow who are in your midst — in the place that the LORD your God chooses to make his name dwell there.

And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall keep and do these statutes.

The Feast of Tabernacles

The Festival of Booths you shall keep for yourself seven days, when you gather in from your threshing floor and from your winepress.

And you shall rejoice in your festival — you, and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates.

Seven days you shall keep the festival to the LORD your God in the place that the LORD chooses — for the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the face of the LORD your God in the place that he chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths. And they shall not appear before the face of the LORD empty-handed —

each man with the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

Judges and Justice

Judges and officers you shall appoint for yourself within all your gates that the LORD your God is giving you, for your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

You shall not bend judgment; you shall not show partiality; and you shall not take a bribe — for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Righteousness, righteousness you shall pursue — so that you may live and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah — any tree — beside the altar of the LORD your God that you make for yourself.

And you shall not raise up for yourself a standing stone, which the LORD your God hates.