Deuteronomy 16:9

The Festival of Weeks

16:9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them 1  from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.

Deuteronomy 31:10

31:10 He 2  commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, 3  at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, 4 

1 tn Heb “the seven weeks.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.

2 tn Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

3 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּה (shÿmittah), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be canceled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverance of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See note on this word at Deut 15:1.

4 tn The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת[חַג] ([khag] hassukot, “[festival of] huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. See note on the name of the festival in Deut 16:13.

sn For the regulations on this annual festival see Deut 16:13-15.