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 §5 and Deuteronomy 16:19

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Deuteronomy 16 shares the concern with distorted judgments found in the Code of Hammurabi, warning that a bribe can corrupt even a wise judge rather than treating judicial wrongdoing solely as a failure to follow legal procedure.

Passages

Code of Hammurabi §5

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Babylonian Legal Text
4 If he convinces the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the case produces. 5 If a judge tries a case, reaches a decision, and presents his judgment in writing, and an error later appears in his decision through his own fault, he shall pay twelve times the fine he set in the case, he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and he shall never sit there again to render judgment. 6 If anyone steals the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and the one who receives the stolen goods from him shall also be put to death.
1750 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Code of Hammurabi

Deuteronomy 16:19

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

“... 16:19. bribes in the ancient world. The temptation for judges and government officials to accept bribes is found in every time and place (see Prov 6:35; Mic 7:3). Taking bribes becomes almost institutionally accepted in bureaucratic situations as competing parties attempt to outmaneuver each other (see Mic 3:11; Ezra 4:4-5). However, at least on the ideal level, arguments and penalties are imposed to eliminate or at least lessen this problem. Thus *Hammurabi’s code places harsh penalties on any judge who alters one of his decisions (presumably because of a bribe), including stiff fines and permanent removal from the bench. Exodus 23:8 forbids the taking of bribes and the perversion of justice as an offense against God, the weak and innocent, and the entire community (see Is 5:23; Amos 5:12). ...”
John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 186–187.

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 §5 and Deuteronomy 16:19

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library