Deuteronomy 16:13–15
The Feast of Booths includes the slave, the Levite, the foreigner and the widow
Study it word by word13The Feast of Booths you shall celebrate for yourself seven days, when you gather in from your threshing floor and from your winepress.
14And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates.
15Seven days you shall celebrate the feast to YHWH your Elohim in the place that YHWH chooses, for YHWH your Elohim will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
In its context
11And you shall rejoice before YHWH your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are among you, in the place that YHWH your Elohim chooses to make his name dwell there.
12And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and carry out these statutes.
…
16Three times in the year all your males shall appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place that he chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. And none shall appear before YHWH empty-handed;
17each shall give according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of YHWH your Elohim that he has given you.
Its words in the original
- חַגchag· festival
Festival in honor of God, with pilgrimage.
- סֻּכֹּתsukot· booth, shelter
Booth, shelter made of branches.
- תַּעֲשֶׂהtaase· do, make
Do, make, in the widest sense: build, produce, carry out, keep (a command), prepare.
- שִׁבְעַתshivat· seven
Seven, the number of fullness; also "seven times".
- יָמִיםyamim· day
Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").
- אָסְפְּasp· gather
Gather, bring together; store up; take away. "Be gathered to one's people" is to die.
- גָּרְנְgarn· threshing floor
Threshing floor: flat ground where grain is threshed; also any open, level place.
- יִּקְבֶyikve· winepress
Winepress: the place where grapes are trodden and the juice is collected.
- שָׂמַחְתָּsamachta· rejoice
Rejoice, be glad; make glad.
- בִנְvin· son
Son. In the plural it can include sons and daughters, and also grandsons and descendants. "Son of..." also says what group someone belongs to ("sons of Israel" = Israelites).
- בִתֶּvite· daughter
Daughter; also granddaughter. In the plural, also the women of a people or place ("daughters of Canaan"); "daughter of Zion" stands for a city and its people.
- עַבְדְּavd· slave, servant
Slave, servant: someone who belongs to another or is in his service. It can be a slave, a worker or a high official of the king; before God, one who serves him. "Your servant" is a polite way to say "I".
- אֲמָתֶamate· female slave, maidservant
Female slave, maidservant.
- לֵּוִיlevi· Levite
Levite: of the tribe of Levi.
- גֵּרger· resident alien
Foreigner who lives in a land that is not his own, without the rights of those who belong to the place.
- יָּתוֹםyatom· fatherless
Orphan; above all one who has lost his father.
- אַלְמָנָהalmana· widow
Widow.
- שְׁעָרֶיsheare· gate
Gate of a city. It was also the open place where the elders met, business was done and disputes were judged.
- תָּחֹגtachog· keep a festival
Celebrate a festival in honor of God, with pilgrimage and joy; also reel, stagger.
- יהוָהyhva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- אֱלֹהֶיelohe· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- מָּקוֹםmakom· place
Place, spot; the space someone or something occupies; also a home or a holy place.
- יִבְחַרyivchar· choose
Choose, select.
- יְבָרֶכְyevarech· bless, kneel
Bless. When God blesses, he gives good: life, children, fruit, prosperity. When a person "blesses God", he gives him nothing: he praises and thanks him. Between people, it is wishing the other the good that comes from God; also greet. The root also means kneel.
- תְּבוּאָתְtevuat· produce, yield
Harvest, what the land produces; income.
- מַעֲשֵׂהmaase· work, deed
Work, labor; what someone does or makes; a deed.
- יָדֶיyade· hand, power
Hand. Figuratively, power or control ("into the hand of" = into the power of); also side, part, or share. Also a projecting piece, such as a tenon.
- הָיִיתָhayita· be, become, happen
Be, exist; also "become" or "happen". It is the verb of "there was", "it was" and "it came to pass".
- שָׂמֵחַsameach· joyful, glad
Joyful, glad.