Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 16:8
For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses instructs the Israelites on the plains of Moab regarding the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the directive to roast the Passover meal and return to their tents.
The words — מַצּוֹת (ma.Tzot) translates to unleavened bread, and עֲצֶרֶת ('a.Tze.ret) denotes a solemn assembly or closing gathering.
The thread — This instruction aligns with Exodus 13:6, which pairs seven days of eating unleavened bread with a seventh-day feast to the LORD, and Leviticus 23:6, which marks the feast's seven-day duration beginning on the fifteenth day of the month.
Why it lands — The text mandates six days of consuming unleavened bread followed by a work-free seventh-day assembly, establishing a fixed, non-negotiable rhythm of remembrance and cessation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.
Cross-references
- Exodus 12:15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
- Exodus 13:6 For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
- Leviticus 23:6 On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
- Leviticus 23:36 For seven days you are to present a food offering to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you must not do any regular work.
- Numbers 28:17 On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten.
- 2 Chronicles 7:9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more.
- Joel 1:14 Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
- Nehemiah 8:18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. The Israelites kept the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly, according to the ordinance.