Go to Related Reading
About this book

Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 16

1 Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to locate his name. 3 You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your lives the day you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt.⁠ 7 You must boil13 and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses;⁠ you may return the next morning to your tents.⁠ 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. 9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. 10 Then you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you. 11 You shall rejoice before him—you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you—in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. 12 Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes. 13 You must celebrate the Feast of Shelters for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. 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. 15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice! 16 Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Shelters; and they must not appear before him empty-handed. 17 Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. 18 You must appoint judges and civil servants for each tribe in all your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly.⁠ 19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort the words of the righteous.⁠ 20 You must pursue justice alone so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.⁠ 21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself.⁠ 22 You must not erect a sacred pillar, a thing the Lord your God detests.

Texts in conversation

Compare Code of Hammurabi i 27 and Deuteronomy 16:18

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Deuteronomy 16 shares the duty to uphold justice found in the Code of Hammurabi, assigning that responsibility to judges throughout Israel's towns rather than presenting it as the achievement of a single king chosen by a god.

Passages

Code of Hammurabi i 27

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Babylonian Legal Text
They called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded in it an everlasting kingdom whose foundations are laid as solidly as those of heaven and earth. Then Anu and Bel called me by name: Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who revered the gods, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers. So that the strong should not harm the weak, so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash and enlighten the land, and further the well-being of mankind. I am Hammurabi, the prince called by Bel, who heaped up riches and plenty, who enriched Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond compare, the sublime patron of E-kur, who restored Eridu and purified the worship of E-apsu.
1750 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Code of Hammurabi

Deuteronomy 16:18

Hebrew Bible
16 Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Shelters; and they must not appear before him empty-handed. 17 Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. 18 You must appoint judges and civil servants for each tribe in all your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. 19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort the words of the righteous.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

“... 16:18-20. judiciary institutions in ancient Near East. As evidenced by the preface to the Code of *Hammurabi (c. 1750 B.C.) and the statements made by the “eloquent peasant” in Egyptian wisdom literature (c. 2100 B.C.), those in authority were expected to protect the rights of the poor and weak in society. “True justice” (see Lev 19:15) was required of kings, officials and local magistrates. In fact, the “world turned upside down” theme found in the book of Judges and in prophetic literature (Is 1:23) describes a society in which “laws are enacted, but ignored” (for example in the Egyptian Visions of Neferti [c. 1900 B.C.]). An efficiently administered state in the ancient Near East depended on the reliability of the law and its enforcement. To this end, every organized state created a bureaucracy of judges and local officials to deal with civil and criminal cases. It was their task to hear testimony, investigate charges made and evaluate evidence, and then execute judgment (detailed in the *Middle Assyrian laws and the Code of Hammurabi). There were some cases, however, that required the attention of the king (see 2 Sam 15:2-4), and appeals were occasionally forwarded to that highest magistrate (as in the *Mari texts). ...”
John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 187.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Code of Hammurabi i 27 and Deuteronomy 16:18

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library