Deuteronomy 16:15-16

16:15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he ¹  chooses, for he ²  will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; ³  so you will indeed rejoice! 16:16 Three 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 him ⁴  empty-handed.

Deuteronomy 17:8

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ⁵  legal claim, ⁶  or assault ⁷  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁸  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

³ tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

⁷ tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

⁸ tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

⁹ tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “gates.”

¹¹ tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.