The Three Annual Festivals

¹⁴ “Three times^(A) a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

¹⁵ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;^(B) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,^(C) for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.^(D)

¹⁶ “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest^(E) with the firstfruits^(F) of the crops you sow in your field.

“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering^(G) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.^(H)

¹⁷ “Three times^(I) a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁸ “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.^(J)

“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.^(K)

¹⁹ “Bring the best of the firstfruits^(L) of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.^(M)

Driving Out the Nations

7 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess^(A) and drives out before you many nations^(B)—the Hittites,^(C) Girgashites,^(D) Amorites,^(E) Canaanites, Perizzites,^(F) Hivites^(G) and Jebusites,^(H) seven nations larger and stronger than you— ² and when the Lord your God has delivered^(I) them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy^(J) them totally.^[a](K) Make no treaty^(L) with them, and show them no mercy.^{(M) 3} Do not intermarry with them.^(N) Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods,^(O) and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy^(P) you. ⁵ This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles^[b](Q) and burn their idols in the fire.^{(R) 6} For you are a people holy^(S) to the Lord your God.^(T) The Lord your God has chosen^(U) you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.^(V)

The Passover^(A)

16 Observe the month of Aviv^(B) and celebrate the Passover^(C) of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. ² Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name.^{(D) 3} Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction,^(E) because you left Egypt in haste^(F)—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.^{(G) 4} Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening^(H) of the first day remain until morning.^(I)

⁵ You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you ⁶ except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary^[a](J) of your departure from Egypt. ⁷ Roast^(K) it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. ⁸ For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly^(L) to the Lord your God and do no work.^(M)

The Festival of Weeks^(N)

⁹ Count off seven weeks^(O) from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.^{(P) 10} Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. ¹¹ And rejoice^(Q) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name^(R)—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites^(S) in your towns, and the foreigners,^(T) the fatherless and the widows living among you.^{(U) 12} Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,^(V) and follow carefully these decrees.

The Festival of Tabernacles^(W)

¹³ Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor^(X) and your winepress.^{(Y) 14} Be joyful^(Z) at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. ¹⁵ For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy^(AA) will be complete.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must appear^(AB) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(AC) the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.^(AD) No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:^{(AE) 17} Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.