Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:14–28; Leviticus 23:4–8; Numbers 28:16–25)
1 UDB Each year honor Yahweh our God by celebrating the Passover Festival in the month of Aviv in early spring. It was on a night in that month that Yahweh rescued your ancestors from Egypt. BSB BSB: Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
2 UDB In order to celebrate that festival, go to the place that Yahweh will choose for you to worship him, and offer there one young animal from your cattle or your sheep to be the Passover sacrifice. BSB BSB: You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.
3 UDB When you eat the Passover meal, the bread that you eat must not have yeast in it. You must eat this kind of bread, which will be called the bread of suffering, for seven days. This is to help you to remember all during the time that you are alive that when your ancestors left Egypt, where they were suffering because they were slaves, they left very quickly. They did not have time to put in yeast and wait for the dough to swell up. BSB BSB: You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.
4 UDB During that festival, which will last for seven days, you must not have any yeast in any house in your land. Furthermore, the meat of the animal that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day of the Passover Festival must be eaten during that night; do not allow any of it to remain until the next day. BSB BSB: No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.
5 UDB To honor Yahweh our God, you must offer the Passover sacrifice only at the place that he chooses for you to worship him; do not offer that sacrifice in any other town in the land that Yahweh is giving to you. Offer that sacrifice when the sun is setting, at the same time of day that your ancestors started to leave Egypt. BSB BSB: You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.
7 UDB Boil the meat and eat it at the place of worship that Yahweh our God chooses. The next morning, you may return to your tents. BSB BSB: And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.
8 UDB Each day, for six days, the bread that you eat must have no yeast in it. On the seventh day, you must all gather to worship Yahweh our God. It will be a day of rest; you must not do any work on that day. BSB BSB: For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.
The Feast of Weeks (Numbers 28:26–31)
9 UDB Each year, from the day that you start to harvest your grain, count seven weeks. BSB BSB: You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.
10 UDB Then, to honor Yahweh our God, celebrate the Festival of Pentecost. Do that by bringing to him an offering of grain. Yahweh has blessed you by causing it to grow in your fields during that year. If you had a big harvest, bring a big offering. If you had a small harvest, bring a small offering. BSB BSB: And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you,
11 UDB Each married couple should be joyful in the presence of Yahweh. Their children, their servants, the descendants of Levi who are in that town, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who are living among you should also be joyful. Bring those offerings to the place of worship that Yahweh will choose. BSB BSB: and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
12 UDB When you celebrate these festivals by obeying these commands, remember that your ancestors were slaves in Egypt. BSB BSB: Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.
The Feast of Tabernacles (Numbers 29:12–40)
13 UDB Each year, after you have threshed all your grain and pressed the juice from all your grapes, you must celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days. BSB BSB: You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
14 UDB Each married couple along with their children, their servants, the descendants of Levi who are in that town, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who are living among you should be joyful in the presence of Yahweh. BSB BSB: And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
15 UDB Honor Yahweh our God by celebrating this festival for seven days in the place that he chooses for you to worship him. You should all be joyful because Yahweh will have blessed your harvest and all the other work that you have done. BSB BSB: For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.
16 UDB So, each year all of you Israelite men must gather to worship Yahweh our God at the place that he will choose, to celebrate three festivals: The Festival of Bread with No Yeast, the Festival of Pentecost, and the Festival of Shelters. No one should come before Yahweh without an offering. Each of you men must bring an offering for Yahweh to these festivals. BSB BSB: Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.
17 UDB The offerings should be in proportion to the blessings that Yahweh has given you during that year. BSB BSB: Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.
Judges and Justice 18 UDB Appoint judges and other officials throughout your tribes, in all the towns in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. They must judge people fairly. BSB BSB: You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
19 UDB They must not judge unjustly. They must not favor one person more than another. The judges must not accept bribes, because if a judge accepts a bribe, even if he is wise and honest, it will be very difficult for him to judge fairly; he will do what the person who gave him the bribe wants him to do and declare that the innocent people must be punished. BSB BSB: Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
20 UDB You must be completely fair and just, in order that you may live long enough to occupy the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. BSB BSB: Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Forbidden Forms of Worship 22 UDB And do not set up any stone pillar to worship any idol, because Yahweh hates them. BSB BSB: and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.