Deuteronomy 16-18

New International Reader's Version

The Passover Feast

16 Celebrate the Passover Feast of the Lord your God in the month of Aviv. In that month he brought you out of Egypt at night. ² Sacrifice an animal from your flock or herd. It is the Passover sacrifice to honor the Lord your God. Sacrifice it at the special place the Lord will choose. He will put his Name there. ³ Don’t eat the animal along with bread made with yeast. Instead, for seven days eat bread made without yeast. It’s the bread that reminds you of how much you suffered. Remember that you left Egypt in a hurry. Remember it all the days of your life. Don’t forget the day you left Egypt. ⁴ Don’t keep any yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. You will sacrifice the Passover animal on the evening of the first day. Do not let any of its meat be left over until the next morning.

⁵ You must not sacrifice the Passover animal in just any town the Lord your God is giving you. ⁶ Sacrifice it only in the special place he will choose for his Name. Sacrifice it there in the evening when the sun goes down. Do it on the same day every year. Be sure it’s the day you left Egypt. ⁷ Cook the animal and eat it. Do it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. ⁸ For six days eat bread made without yeast. On the seventh day come together for a service to honor the Lord your God. Don’t do any work on that day.

The Feast of Weeks

⁹ Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to cut your grain in the field. ¹⁰ Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to honor the Lord your God. Give to the Lord anything you choose to give as an offering. Give, just as the Lord has given to you. ¹¹ Be filled with joy in the sight of the Lord your God. Be joyful at the special place he will choose for his Name. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites living in your towns. So should the outsiders and widows living among you. And so should the children whose fathers have died. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Be careful to obey the rules I’m giving you.

The Feast of Booths

¹³ Gather the grain from your threshing floors. Take the fresh wine from your winepresses. Then celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days. ¹⁴ Be filled with joy at your feast. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites, the outsiders, and the widows living in your towns. And so should the children whose fathers have died. ¹⁵ For seven days celebrate the feast to honor the Lord your God. Do it at the place he will choose. The Lord will bless you when you gather all your crops. He’ll bless you in everything you do. And you will be full of joy. ¹⁶ All your men must appear in front of the Lord your God at the holy tent. They must go to the place he will choose. They must do it three times a year. They must go there to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths. None of your men should appear in front of the Lord without bringing something with him. ¹⁷ Each of you must bring a gift. Give to the Lord your God, just as he has given to you.

Appoint Judges and Officials

¹⁸ Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes. Do it in every town the Lord your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Do what is right. Treat everyone the same. Don’t take money from people who want special favors. It makes those who are wise close their eyes to the truth. It twists the words of those who have done nothing wrong. ²⁰ Do only what is right. Then you will live. You will take over the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Don’t Worship Other Gods

²¹ Don’t set up a wooden pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. Don’t set it up beside the altar you build to worship the Lord your God. ²² Don’t set up a sacred stone to honor another god. The Lord your God hates Asherah poles and sacred stones.

17 Suppose an ox or sheep has anything at all wrong with it. Then don’t sacrifice it to the Lord your God. He hates it.

² Someone living among you might do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God. It might happen in one of the towns the Lord is giving you. That person is breaking the Lord’s covenant. ³ The person might have worshiped or bowed down to other gods. That person might have bowed down to the sun or moon or stars in the sky. I have commanded you not to do these things. ⁴ When you hear that people have done something like that, check the matter out carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has been done in Israel. The Lord hates that. ⁵ So take the person who has done that evil thing to your city gate. Put that person to death by throwing stones at them. ⁶ Two or three witnesses are required to put someone to death. No one can be put to death because of what only one witness says. Two or three witnesses are required. ⁷ The witnesses must throw the first stones. Then the rest of the people must also throw stones. Get rid of that evil person.

Law Courts

⁸ People will bring their cases to your courts. But some cases will be too hard for you to judge. They might be about murders, attacks or other crimes. Then take those hard cases to the place the Lord your God will choose. ⁹ Go to a priest, who is a Levite. And go to the judge who is in office at that time. Ask them for their decision. They will give it to you. ¹⁰ They’ll hand down their decisions at the place the Lord will choose. You must do what they decide. Be careful to do everything they tell you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you. Accept the decisions they give you. Don’t turn away from what they tell you. Don’t turn to the right or the left. ¹² Someone might show that they don’t respect the judge. Or they will show that they don’t respect the priest. The priest will serve the Lord your God at the place God will choose. If anyone doesn’t show respect for these people, that person must be put to death. Remove that evil person from Israel. ¹³ All the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be afraid to disrespect a judge or priest again.

Appoint the King the Lord Chooses

¹⁴ You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. You will take it as your own. You will make your homes in it. When you do, you will say, “Let’s appoint a king over us, just like all the nations around us.” ¹⁵ When that happens, make sure you appoint over yourselves a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own people. Don’t appoint over yourselves someone from another country. Don’t choose anyone who isn’t from one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶ The king must not get large numbers of horses for himself. He must not make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The Lord has told you, “You must not go back there again.” ¹⁷ The king must not have many wives. If he does, they will lead him astray. He must not store up large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸ When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must make for himself a copy of the law. He must write on a scroll the law that I am teaching you. He must copy it from the scroll of a priest, who is a Levite. ¹⁹ The king must keep the scroll close to him at all times. He must read it all the days of his life. Then he can learn to have respect for the Lord his God. He can carefully obey all the words of this law and these rules. ²⁰ He won’t think of himself as being better than his people are. He won’t turn away from the law. He won’t turn to the right or the left. Then he and his sons after him will rule over his kingdom in Israel for a long time.

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The priests, who are Levites, won’t receive any part of the land of Israel. That also applies to the whole tribe of Levi. They will eat the food offerings presented to the Lord. That will be their share. ² They won’t have any part of the land the Lord gave the other tribes in Israel. The Lord himself is their share, just as he promised them.

³ Anyone who sacrifices a bull or a sheep owes a share of it to the priests. Their share is the shoulder, the inside parts and the meat from the head. ⁴ You must give the priests the first share of the harvest of your grain, olive oil and fresh wine. You must also give them the first wool you clip from your sheep. ⁵ The Lord your God has chosen the Levites and their sons after them to serve him in his name always. He hasn’t chosen priests from any of your other tribes.

⁶ Sometimes a Levite will move from the town in Israel where he’s living. And he will come to the place the Lord will choose. He’ll do it because he really wants to. ⁷ Then he can serve in the name of the Lord his God. He’ll be like all the other Levites who serve the Lord there. ⁸ He must have an equal share of the good things they have. That applies even if he has already received money by selling things his family owned.

Practices the Lord Hates

⁹ You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you do, don’t copy the practices of the nations there. The Lord hates those practices. ¹⁰ Here are things you must not do. Don’t sacrifice your children in the fire to other gods. Don’t practice any kind of evil magic at all. Don’t use magic to try to explain the meaning of warnings in the sky or of any other signs. Don’t take part in worshiping evil powers. ¹¹ Don’t put a spell on anyone. Don’t get messages from those who have died. Don’t talk to the spirits of the dead. Don’t get advice from the dead. ¹² The Lord your God hates it when anyone does these things. The nations in the land he’s giving you do these things he hates. So he will drive out those nations to make room for you. ¹³ You must be without blame in the sight of the Lord your God.

The Prophet of the Lord

¹⁴ You will take over the nations that are in the land the Lord is giving you. They listen to those who practice all kinds of evil magic. But you belong to the Lord your God. He says you must not do these things. ¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people. You must listen to him. ¹⁶ At Mount Horeb you asked the Lord your God for a prophet. You asked him on the day you gathered together. You said, “We don’t want to hear the voice of the Lord our God. We don’t want to see this great fire anymore. If we do, we’ll die.”

¹⁷ The Lord said to me, “What they are saying is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you. He will be one of their own people. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him to say. ¹⁹ The prophet will speak in my name. But someone might not listen to what I say through the prophet. I will hold that person responsible for not listening. ²⁰ But suppose a prophet dares to speak in my name something I have not commanded. Or he speaks in the name of other gods. Then that prophet must be put to death.”

²¹ You will say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message hasn’t been spoken by the Lord?” ²² Sometimes a prophet will announce something in the name of the Lord. And it won’t take place or come true. Then that’s a message the Lord hasn’t told him to speak. That prophet has dared to speak on his own authority. So don’t be afraid of what he says.