Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 16:9
You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel on the plains of Moab, giving instructions for the Feast of Weeks immediately after concluding the Passover and Unleavened Bread regulations.
The words — The verse centers on תִסְפָּר (tispor), meaning "you will count," and שָׁבֻעֹת (shavuot), meaning "weeks," which together command a measured seven-week period starting when the sickle enters the standing grain.
The thread — This counting directive establishes the timeline for the Feast of Weeks, which Exodus 34:22 ties to the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and Acts 2:1 records as the day the gathered community assembled together.
Why it lands — The text mandates precise agricultural tracking for worship, requiring the people to count from the first harvest cut before bringing offerings proportional to their blessing.
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
Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:16 You 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, when you gather your produce from the field.
- 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.
- Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
- Leviticus 23:15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count off seven full weeks.
- Numbers 28:26 On the day of firstfruits, when you present an offering of new grain to the LORD during the Feast of Weeks, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.
- Deuteronomy 16:10 And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you,
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.
- 2 Chronicles 8:13 He observed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
- 1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
- Hebrews 2:1 We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.