Favor · the best way to learn the Bible
Deuteronomy 16 Bible study: Three times a year
The Passover left the house for the place the LORD would choose: "You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates" (16:5). Weeks and booths are commanded joy, with the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow at the table (16:11, 16:14), gifts are measured by the LORD's blessing (16:17), and judges sit in the very gates where the Passover can't be kept (16:18).
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the words behind the words, what most readers miss, and how it all leads to Jesus.
First week free, then $10 a month per person
“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the LORD your God’s blessing which he has given you.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Deuteronomy 16, after the Passover at the place the LORD chooses, Israel is told to return to their tents in the morning.”
Is that in Deuteronomy 16, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
From every house to one place
Exodus 12 set the Passover in the house. The blood went "on the houses in which they shall eat it" (Exodus 12:7), "None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning" (Exodus 12:22), and "It must be eaten in one house" (Exodus 12:46). Deuteronomy names where it is sacrificed in the land: "You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you" (16:5), "but at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt" (16:6). And after it, "In the morning you shall return to your tents" (16:7). Deuteronomy 12 set this rule for the offerings, "the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there" (12:5); this chapter says "the place" the LORD chooses six times, for all three feasts (16:2, 16:6, 16:7, 16:11, 16:15, 16:16).
Where it leads to Jesus
When you make a feast
Deuteronomy 16:11leads toLuke 14:13-14
At the feast of weeks Israel is to rejoice with "the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you" (16:11). Eating at a Pharisee's house (Luke 14:1), Jesus said, "But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:13-14). Jesus doesn't cite Deuteronomy 16, so setting them together is a reading. Some hear in his words the same kind of table this chapter sets, where the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow are named among those who rejoice at the feast. Others read his words as answering the meal in front of him, about whom a host invites and who repays (Luke 14:12), with no look back to Israel's feasts.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 16
That was a taste
The rest of Deuteronomy 16 is waiting in Favor
- The widow at the feast
- Not empty, as he has blessed you
- Not in your gates, and in all your gates
- The Passover, in other words
- Weeks and booths, in other words
- Beside the LORD's own altar
- 12 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Deuteronomy 16 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
חַגchagsay CHAG
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "festival-gathering, feast, pilgrim-feast"; Strong's: "a festival". It names all three feasts in one verse: "in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths" (16:16), each with chag. Deuteronomy uses the word seven times, six in this chapter (16:10, 16:13, 16:14, 16:16 three times) and once more for the reading of the law "in the feast of booths" (31:10). Chronicles names the same three with the same words for Solomon's offerings, "three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths" (2 Chronicles 8:13).
For your group
Deuteronomy 16 Bible study questions
- 1Israel was to rejoice with "the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow" (16:11). When you celebrate what God has given you, who could be at the table who usually isn't?
- 2"Every man shall give as he is able, according to the LORD your God’s blessing which he has given you" (16:17). What has God given you this year, and what would giving from it look like?
- 3"A bribe blinds the eyes of the wise" (16:19). Is there anything you stand to gain that could make it harder for you to see what's right?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Deuteronomy 16 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
Start a Bible studyThe best way to learn the Bible
Favor opens up every chapter as you read.
Favor is a Bible study app for your phone or computer. It takes you through the Bible one chapter at a time, a few minutes a day, and shows you what's really there: the words behind the words, the moments most people miss, and how the whole story fits together. For you. For everyone.
Every chapter explains itself
As you read, short notes open up what's really going on, the details most readers walk past, and the honest questions people ask.
The Hebrew and Greek behind it
Tap a highlighted word to see the original, how to say it, and what it means, checked against the original-language texts.
Every page leads to Jesus
Watch promises made in Genesis kept in Jesus. Each line lights up on your map as you read.
Better together
Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together.
- 1
Start your free week
Sign up in a minute with your email.
- 2
Read a few minutes a day
Each chapter opens itself up as you go. Tap what you're curious about.
- 3
Bring your people, if you like
Send one link. Everyone reads the same chapter, then meets to talk.
First week free, then $10 a month per person
Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
How much does it cost?
Your first week is free. After that it's $10 a month per person, the same for everyone, including groups and churches. There are no tiers and nothing extra to unlock.
Can I read Deuteronomy 16 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Deuteronomy 16 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
Do I need a group?
No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
Yes. Favor starts where you are and explains as it goes. The questions along the way aren't marked right or wrong: you answer, then see what the text shows.
Which Bible does Favor use?
The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
Is Favor tied to a church?
No. Favor is non-denominational. Where Christians read a passage differently, it shows the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Start with Deuteronomy 16
The best way to learn the Bible. For you. For everyone.
There's a seat for you at the table.
Start your free weekFirst week free, then $10 a month per person · Log in
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home