Deuteronomy 16:15
in Deuteronomy 16For 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah shall choose; because Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be altogether joyful.
KJV
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 16
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days
on Deuteronomy 16:13-15
Leviticus 23:42-43 grounds this feast in the booths of the wilderness, while Deuteronomy dates it by the threshing floor and the winepress, which is why Exodus 23:16 can call it the Feast of Ingathering. Verse 15 makes the blessing the ground of the joy, “because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce”. Matthew Henry reads that order as joy resting on a promise.
This site's exposition
For seven days you shall celebrate
The seven days fall after the whole harvest is in, and John Gill counts the vintage, the olives and the summer fruit as gathered before the feast began. John 7:2 and 7:10 put Jesus in Jerusalem for this feast. The joy is promised complete.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God,....
We must rejoice in God, not only because of what we have received and are receiving from him daily, but because of what he has promised, and we expect to receive yet further from him: because he shall bless thee, therefore thou shalt rejoice. Those that make God their joy may rejoice in hope, for he is faithful that has promised.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
in all the works of thine hands . . . rejoice--that is, praising God with a warm and elevated heart. According to Jewish tradition, no marriages were allowed to be celebrated during these great festivals, that no personal or private rejoicings might be mingled with the demonstrations of public and national gladness.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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.
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)
The words behind it
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁבְעַ֣ת | shivat | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| יָמִ֗ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| תָּחֹג֙ | tachog | you will celebrate a festival | H2287 → | |
| לַיהוָ֣ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| בַּמָּק֖וֹם | bamakom | in the place | H4725 → | 401 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יִבְחַ֣ר | yivchar | he will choose | H977 → | 171 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יְבָרֶכְךָ֞ | yevarekha | he will bless you | H1288 → | 330 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| בְּכֹ֤ל | bekhol | in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| תְּבוּאָֽתְךָ֙ | tevuatekha | produce your | H8393 → | 42 times |
| וּבְכֹל֙ | uvekhol | and in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה | maaseh | [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| יָדֶ֔יךָ | yadeikha | hands your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וְהָיִ֖יתָ | vehayita | and you will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אַ֥ךְ | ʾakh | surely | H389 → | 161 times |
| שָׂמֵֽחַ׃ | sameach | joyful | H8056 → |
שִׁבְעַ֣תseven
shivatH7651 →394 times
יָמִ֗יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
תָּחֹג֙you will celebrate a festival
tachogH2287 →
לַיהוָ֣הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
בַּמָּק֖וֹםin the place
bamakomH4725 →401 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
יִבְחַ֣רhe will choose
yivcharH977 →171 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יְבָרֶכְךָ֞he will bless you
yevarekhaH1288 →330 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
בְּכֹ֤לin all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
תְּבוּאָֽתְךָ֙produce your
tevuatekhaH8393 →42 times
וּבְכֹל֙and in all
uvekholH3605 →5413 times
מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה[the] work of
maasehH4639 →236 times
יָדֶ֔יךָhands your
yadeikhaH3027 →1618 times
וְהָיִ֖יתָand you will be
vehayitaH1961 →3559 times
אַ֥ךְsurely
ʾakhH389 →161 times
שָׂמֵֽחַ׃joyful
sameachH8056 →
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
Deuteronomy 7:13He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds…
it leads to
- John 14:21
Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 15:10
If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
- Deuteronomy 28:3–5
You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
- Exodus 23:25
So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.
- John 14:21
Through
Deuteronomy 30:16For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the…
it leads to
- Matthew 22:37–38
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
- Deuteronomy 30:6
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
- 1 John 5:2–3
By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.
- Deuteronomy 6:5
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
- Matthew 22:37–38
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.