Deuteronomy 16:1–17:13
“Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh your God from among your flock and herd at the place that Yahweh will choose, to let his name dwell there. 3 You shall not eat ⌊with it⌋a anything leavened; seven days you shall eat ⌊with it⌋b unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen withc you in any of your territoryd for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5 You are not allowed to offer the Passover sacrifice in one of your ⌊towns⌋e that Yahweh your God is giving to you, 6 but only at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there; you shall offer the Passover sacrifice ⌊in the evening at sunset⌋,f at the designated timeg of your going out from Egypt. 7 And you shall cook, and you shall eat it at the place that Yahweh your God will choose; and you may turn in the morning and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be an assembly for Yahweh your God; you shall not do work.
9 “You shall count off seven weeks for you; ⌊from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain⌋h you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 And then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you shall give just as Yahweh your God has blessed you. 11 And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite that is in your ⌊towns⌋i and the alien and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place that Yahweh your God will choose to let his name dwell there. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so ⌊you shall diligently observe⌋j these rules.
13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for yourselvesk seven days ⌊at the gathering in of the produce⌋l from your threshing floor and from your press; 14 and you shall rejoice at your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite and the alien and the orphan and the widow that are in your ⌊towns⌋.m 15 Seven days you shall celebrate your feast to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose, for Yahweh your God shall bless you in all of your producen and in all of the work of your hand, and you shall surely be rejoicing.o 16 Three times in the year all of your males shall appear ⌊before ⌋p Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear ⌊before Yahweh⌋q empty-handed. 17 Each person ⌊shall give as he is able⌋,r that is, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you.
18 “You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your ⌊towns⌋s that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people ⌊righteous judgments⌋.t 19 You shall not subvertu justice; you shall not ⌊show partiality⌋;v and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind the eyes of the wise and misrepresents the words of the righteous. 20 ⌊Justice, only justice⌋w you shall pursue, so that you may live, and you shall take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. 21 You shall not plant for yourselvesx ⌊an Asherah pole⌋y beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.z 22 And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, a thing that Yahweh your God hates.
17 “You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or sheep ⌊that has a physical defect⌋a ⌊of anything seriously wrong⌋,b for that is a detestable thing to Yahweh your God. 2 If there is found in one of your ⌊towns⌋c that Yahweh your God is giving to you a man or a woman that does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God to transgress his covenant 3 and by going and serving other gods and so he bows down to them and to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of heaven ⌊which I have forbidden⌋,d 4 and it is reported to you or you hear about it and you enquire about it thoroughly and, indeed,e the trustworthiness of the deedf has been established, it ⌊has occurred⌋,g this detestable thing, in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who hash done this evil thing to your gates; that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones ⌊to death⌋.i 6 ⌊On the evidence of⌋j two or three witnesses ⌊the person shall be put to death⌋.k The personl shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the personm to kill the person,n and afterward the handso of all the people, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
8 “⌊If a matter is too difficult for you⌋,p for example disputes between blood and blood,q between legal claim and legal claimr and between assault and assaults and between matters of discernment in your ⌊towns⌋,t then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; 9 then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be in office in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you ⌊the verdict⌋.u
10 “And ⌊you shall carry out exactly the decision⌋v that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and ⌊you shall diligently observe⌋w according to all that they instruct you. 11 And so according to ⌊the instruction of the law⌋x that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or to the left. 12 And the man who treats with contempty so as not to listen to the priest who is standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people will hear and will be afraid, and they will not behave presumptuously again.