Sukkot 6

Happy Sukkot!

Deuteronomy 14:22-16:8 

“Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields. You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where he chooses to have his name dwell, so that you will always learn to fear the Lord your God. But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you and since the Lordyour God has blessed you, then exchange it for silver, take the silver in your hand, and go to the place the Lord your God chooses. You may spend the silver on anything you want: cattle, sheep, goats, wine, beer, or anything you desire. You are to feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your family. Do not neglect the Levite within your city gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

“At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your city gates. Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow within your city gates may come, eat, and be satisfied.And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord’s release of debts has been proclaimed. You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

“There will be no poor among you, however, because the Lord is certain to bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today. When the Lord your God blesses you as he has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule many nations, but they will not rule you.

“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has. Be careful that there isn’t this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,’ and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty. Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do. For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, ‘Open your hand willingly to your poor and needy brother in your land.’

“If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. But if your slave says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way. Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years—worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

“Consecrate to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock. Each year you and your family are to eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses. But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you may not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. Eat it within your city gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer. But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water.

“Set aside the month of Abib and observe the Passover to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib. Sacrifice to the Lord your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have his name dwell. Do not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of hardship—because you left the land of Egypt in a hurry—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt. No yeast is to be found anywhere in your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day is to remain until morning. You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns the Lordyour God is giving you. Sacrifice the Passover animal only at the place where the Lord your God chooses to have his name dwell. Do this in the evening as the sun sets at the same time of day you departed from Egypt. You are to cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses, and you are to return to your tents in the morning. Eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; do not do any work.

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