Deuteronomy 16 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Keep the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover for Yahweh your God, because it was in the month of Aviv that Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt at night.

Sacrifice the Passover animal — from the flock or the herd — to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose as a home for his name.

Don't eat anything with yeast alongside it. For seven days eat unleavened bread with it — bread of hardship — because you left Egypt in a rush. Do this so that you remember the day you came out of Egypt for as long as you live.

No yeast should be found anywhere in your territory for seven days. And none of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day should be left over until morning.

You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover animal in just any of the towns that Yahweh your God is giving you.

Instead, sacrifice it only at the place Yahweh your God will choose as a home for his name. Do it in the evening, at sunset — the same time of day you left Egypt.

Roast it and eat it at the place Yahweh your God will choose, and then in the morning head back to your tents.

For six days eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly for Yahweh your God. Don't do any work on that day.

Count off seven weeks from the time the sickle first cuts the standing grain.

Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks for Yahweh your God with a gift you give freely — proportional to how much Yahweh your God has provided for you.

Celebrate in the presence of Yahweh your God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the immigrants, orphans, and widows among you — at the place Yahweh your God will choose as a home for his name.

Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt. Be careful to follow these instructions.

Celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days after you've gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.

Celebrate your festival — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, immigrants, orphans, and widows in your towns.

Celebrate for seven days for Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose. Yahweh your God will provide for you in all your harvest and in everything you do, and your joy will be complete.

Three times a year, every male among you must appear before Yahweh your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Shelters. No one should appear before Yahweh empty-handed.

Each person should give what they can, proportional to how Yahweh your God has provided for them.

Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town that Yahweh your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly.

Don't twist justice. Don't show favoritism. Don't accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and corrupts the words of those who are in the right.

Pursue justice — only justice — so that you may live and take possession of the land Yahweh your God is giving you.

Don't set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build for Yahweh your God.

And don't set up a sacred stone pillar — Yahweh your God detests these.