Deuteronomy 16:13-17:7

New King James Version

The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed^(A)

^13 (B)“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. ¹⁴ And ^(C)you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your ^[a]gates. ^15 (D)Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

^16 (E)“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and ^(F)they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Every man shall give as he is able, ^(G)according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

Justice Must Be Administered

¹⁸ “You shall appoint ^(H)judges and officers in all your ^[b]gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ^19 (I)You shall not pervert justice; ^(J)you shall not ^[c]show partiality, ^(K)nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and ^[d]twists the words of the righteous. ²⁰ You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may ^(L)live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

^21 (M)“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a ^[e]wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. ^22 (N)You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

Various Instructions

17 “You ^(O)shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any ^[f]blemish or defect, for that is an ^[g]abomination to the Lord your God.

^2 (P)“If there is found among you, within any of your ^[h]gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(Q)in transgressing His covenant, ³ who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either ^(R)the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(S)which I have not commanded, ^4 (T)and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[i]abomination has been committed in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and ^(U)shall stone ^(V)to death that man or woman with stones. ⁶ Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three ^(W)witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ⁷ The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among ^(X)you.