Deutéronome 16

¹ 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 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 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 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 You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.

⁶ You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.

⁷ 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 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.

Note · Deutéronome 16.1–8

La Pâque rappelle une sortie qui n’a pas été produite par le peuple

Le repas et les pains inscrivent la délivrance dans le calendrier. Le lieu choisi organise cette célébration dans la logique du livre. La lecture chrétienne peut y reconnaître la mémoire pascale sans déclarer vide ou dépassée toute signification de la fête juive.

⁹ You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.

¹⁰ 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 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 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.

Note · Deutéronome 16.9–12

La reconnaissance s’accompagne d’une inclusion

Le don est lié à la bénédiction reçue et la joie réunit la maison, les serviteurs, le Lévite, l’étranger, l’orphelin et la veuve. Le texte ne mesure donc pas la fête au seul confort de ceux qui peuvent la financer. Le souvenir de l’esclavage en règle la portée sociale.

¹³ 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 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 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 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 Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.

Note · Deutéronome 16.13–17

Se réjouir ne signifie pas oublier les autres

La fête des huttes accompagne le rassemblement des récoltes. Chacun apporte selon ce qu’il a reçu, et non pour prouver une valeur personnelle supérieure. La joie demandée doit être entendue dans ce partage ; elle ne peut servir à humilier ceux qui traversent un deuil ou une privation.

¹⁸ 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 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 Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

²¹ Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,

²² and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

Note · Deutéronome 16.18–22

Une justice qui refuse l’argent corrupteur

Les juges doivent poursuivre le droit sans favoriser une personne ni recevoir un cadeau qui déforme leur jugement. Les dernières prescriptions maintiennent aussi une distinction cultuelle. Le lieu religieux ne doit pas devenir un écran derrière lequel la corruption des décisions serait moins grave.