Deuteronomy 16:13
in Deuteronomy 16You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress:
KJV
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
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This verse in Deuteronomy 16
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,.... Which began on the fifteenth day of Tisri, or September; see Lev 23:34, &c. after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and therefore sometimes called the feast of ingathering, Exo 23:16, barley harvest began at the passover, and wheat harvest at Pentecost; and before the feast of tabernacles began, the vintage and the gathering of the olives were over, as well as all other summer fruits were got in.
This site's exposition
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles
on Deuteronomy 16:13-15
Leviticus 23:42-43 gives the reason for this feast as the booths, that your generations may know that God made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when he brought them out of Egypt. Deuteronomy names no booths here and dates the feast by the barn and the winepress instead, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine, which is why Exodus 23:16 can call it the feast of ingathering. Verse 15 then makes the blessing the ground of the joy rather than its result, because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Matthew Henry reads that order as joy resting on a promise as much as on a harvest already gathered.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
12 , &c.), because the care of these belonged to the priests and Levites, who had not so much need of a repetition as the people had, and because the spiritual part of the service, which consisted in holy joy, was most pleasing to God, and was to be the perpetual duty of a gospel conversation, of which this feast was typical.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
On Deuteronomy 16:1-17On Deuteronomy 16:1-17
Three times a year, on the road
This passage sets the rhythm behind half the New Testament's travel scenes: three times a year (Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles) every Israelite male was to appear “before the LORD” at the one chosen place, which became Jerusalem. That is pilgrimage: whole families and villages walking or riding for days, camping, filling the city to bursting. It is why the boy Jesus is in Jerusalem in Luke 2, why the city is crowded at the crucifixion, and why devout Jews “from every nation” are there at Pentecost in Acts 2.
The Mishnah opens its tractate on the festival visit by asking exactly who is obligated to make the trip (Chagigah 1:1): men were bound; women and children came freely, as Mary did.
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Rabbi Abraham [ibn Ezra] said that this phrase is connected with the expression and thy manservant, and thy maidservant. Verse. [mentioned in the first part of the preceding verse]. The correct interpretation is according to the plain meaning thereof, that you are to observe these statutes.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Chagigah 1:1 (who must appear) · Luke 2:41 (the family's yearly pilgrimage)
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חַ֧ג | chag | [the] festival of | H2282 → | 62 times |
| הַסֻּכֹּ֛ת | hasukot | the booths | H5521 → | 31 times |
| תַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה | taaseh | you will observe | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לְךָ֖ | lekha | <for> yourself | ||
| שִׁבְעַ֣ת | shivat | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| יָמִ֑ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| בְּאָ֨סְפְּךָ֔ | beasepekha | when gathering you | H622 → | 200 times |
| מִֽגָּרְנְךָ֖ | migarenekha | from threshing floor your | H1637 → | |
| וּמִיִּקְבֶֽךָ׃ | umiyikvecha | and from wine-press your | H3342 → |
חַ֧ג[the] festival of
chagH2282 →62 times
הַסֻּכֹּ֛תthe booths
hasukotH5521 →31 times
תַּעֲשֶׂ֥הyou will observe
taasehH6213 →2628 times
לְךָ֖<for> yourself
lekha
שִׁבְעַ֣תseven
shivatH7651 →394 times
יָמִ֑יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
בְּאָ֨סְפְּךָ֔when gathering you
beasepekhaH622 →200 times
מִֽגָּרְנְךָ֖from threshing floor your
migarenekhaH1637 →
וּמִיִּקְבֶֽךָ׃and from wine-press your
umiyikvechaH3342 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 23:16You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year,…
it leads to
- Exodus 34:22
And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
- Leviticus 23:9–21
And the LORD said to Moses,
- Deuteronomy 16:9–15
You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.
- Leviticus 23:34–44
“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.
- Exodus 34:22
Through
2 Chronicles 5:3So all the men of Israel came together to the king at the feast in the seventh month.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 8:2
And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.
- 2 Chronicles 7:8–10
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days.
- 1 Kings 8:2
Through
John 7:2However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.
it leads to
- Zechariah 14:16–19
Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
- Deuteronomy 16:13–16
You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
- Zechariah 14:16–19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.