Text: Deuteronomy 16:16
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 23:14
Subject: pilgrimage festivals
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Exodus 23:14 commands Israel to "celebrate a feast to Me three times a year" (שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים תָּחֹג לִי, shalosh regalim tachog li), and Deuteronomy 16:16 restates this: "Three times a year all your males must appear before the LORD your God at the place He will choose." Both texts prescribe the same three pilgrim festivals—Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Ingathering/Booths. Deuteronomy adds the centralization requirement ("at the place He will choose") and the instruction that "no one is to appear before the LORD empty-handed" (Deut 16:16), specifying proportional giving "according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you" (16:17). The progression from Exodus's general calendar to Deuteronomy's centralized and proportional system reflects Israel's transition from wilderness to settled worship.