(A)You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall [a]celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a [b]voluntary offering of your hand in a proportional amount, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; 11 and you shall (B)rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and (C)the Levite who is in your [c]town, and (D)the stranger, the [d]orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. 12 (E)You shall also remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful and [e]comply with these statutes.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 16:10 Lit perform
  2. Deuteronomy 16:10 Or freewill offering
  3. Deuteronomy 16:11 Lit gates
  4. Deuteronomy 16:11 Or fatherless
  5. Deuteronomy 16:12 Lit perform these

The Festival of Harvest

“Count off seven weeks from when you first begin to cut the grain at the time of harvest. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Harvest[a] to honor the Lord your God. Bring him a voluntary offering in proportion to the blessings you have received from him. 11 This is a time to celebrate before the Lord your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. 12 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful to obey all these decrees.

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Footnotes

  1. 16:10 Hebrew Festival of Weeks; also in 16:16. This was later called the Festival of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1). It is celebrated today as Shavuot (or Shabuoth).