^16:9You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them¹⁴ from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. ^16:10Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks¹⁵ before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering¹⁶ that you will bring, in proportion to how he¹⁷ has blessed you. ^16:11You shall rejoice before him¹⁸—you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages,¹⁹ the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you—in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. ^16:12Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.

The Festival of Temporary Shelters

^16:13You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters²⁰ for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest.²¹^16:14You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.²²^16:15You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he²³ chooses, for he²⁴ will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do;²⁵ so you will indeed rejoice! ^16:16Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him²⁶ empty-handed.

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Footnotes

14 Heb “the seven weeks.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.
15 The Hebrew phrase חַג שָׁבֻעוֹת (khag shavu’ot) is otherwise known in the OT (Exod 23:16) as קָצִיר (qatsir, “harvest”) and in the NT as πεντηχοστή (pentēchostē, “Pentecost”).
16 Heb “the sufficiency of the offering of your hand.”
17 Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in .
18 Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in .
19 Heb “gates.”
20 The Hebrew phrase חַג הַסֻּכֹּת (khag hassukot, “festival of huts” or “festival of shelters”) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. , , ) is now preferable to the traditional “tabernacles” (, , ) in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. Clearer is the English term “shelters” (so , , , ), but this does not reflect the temporary nature of the living arrangement. This feast was a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt, suggesting that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.
21 Heb “when you gather in your threshing-floor and winepress.”
22 Heb “in your gates.”
23 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
24 Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in .
25 Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so , ); , “in all your undertakings.”
26 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .