Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 16:8-22
Context16:8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. 1
16:9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them 2 from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. 16:10 Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks 3 before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering 4 that you will bring, in proportion to how he 5 has blessed you. 16:11 You shall rejoice before him 6 – you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, 7 the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you – in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. 16:12 Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.
16:13 You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters 8 for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. 9 16:14 You 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. 10 16:15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he 11 chooses, for he 12 will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; 13 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 14 empty-handed. 16:17 Every one of you must give as you are able, 15 according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants 16 for each tribe in all your villages 17 that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. 18 16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort 19 the words of the righteous. 20 16:20 You must pursue justice alone 21 so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.
16:21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole 22 near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 16:22 You must not erect a sacred pillar, 23 a thing the Lord your God detests.
[16:8] 1 tn The words “on that day” are not in the Hebrew text; they are supplied in the translation for clarification (cf. TEV, NLT).
[16:9] 2 tn Heb “the seven weeks.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.
[16:10] 3 tn 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 (penthcosth, “Pentecost”).
[16:10] 4 tn Heb “the sufficiency of the offering of your hand.”
[16:10] 5 tn Heb “the
[16:11] 6 tn Heb “the
[16:13] 8 tn 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. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is now preferable to the traditional “tabernacles” (KJV, ASV, NIV) 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 NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), 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.
[16:13] 9 tn Heb “when you gather in your threshing-floor and winepress.”
[16:14] 10 tn Heb “in your gates.”
[16:15] 11 tn Heb “the
[16:15] 12 tn Heb “the
[16:15] 13 tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”
[16:16] 14 tn Heb “the
[16:17] 15 tn Heb “a man must give according to the gift of his hand.” This has been translated as second person for stylistic reasons, in keeping with the second half of the verse, which is second person rather than third.
[16:18] 16 tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.
[16:18] 18 tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”
[16:19] 19 tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”
[16:19] 20 tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”
[16:20] 21 tn Heb “justice, justice.” The repetition is emphatic; one might translate as “pure justice” or “unadulterated justice” (cf. NLT “true justice”).
[16:21] 22 tn Heb “an Asherah, any tree.”
[16:22] 23 sn Sacred pillar. This refers to the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.
