Deuteronomy 16:15

Deu 16:15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

Ver. 15. Thou shalt surely rejoice.] {See Trapp on "Deu 12:12"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

in all the works of thine hands . . . rejoice--that is, praising God with a warm and elevated heart. According to Jewish tradition, no marriages were allowed to be celebrated during these great festivals, that no personal or private rejoicings might be mingled with the demonstrations of public and national gladness.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15. the place which the Lord shall choose] On the effects of the centralisation of the feasts see introd. to Deu_16:1-17.

and thou shalt be altogether joyful] Heb. only, or nothing but, joyful. This emphatic repetition of the command is remarkable, but hardly sufficient to answer in the affirmative Steuernagel’s question whether the feast had before D’s time begun to lose its ancient, joyous character.

16, 17 summarise the laws of the three feasts. Deu_16:16 repeats (with a characteristic variation and addition of the divine title) the older commandment in J, Exo_34:23, repeated (editorially) in E, Deu_23:17; three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord Jehovah. That only males are mentioned here, while Deu_16:11; Deu_16:14 include among the worshippers daughters, bondwomen and widows, is no proof that this summary is from another hand than the three preceding laws (Steuern.). It is the same author but he is quoting the older law. In contrast with its confinement of the law to males D’s inclusion of women is characteristic; see on Deu_16:21.

shall appear before the Lord thy God] Heb. shall let himself be seen at the face of, a possible but awkward construction. It is probable that the original reading, which may be restored without the change of a consonant and by merely altering the vowel-points, was shall see the face of. The motive of the present punctuation would be the desire to avoid the anthropomorphism involved in the phrase ‘seeing the face of God.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God,.... The feast of tabernacles still spoken of:

in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: the city of Jerusalem:

because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase, and in all the works of thine hands; both in the increase of their fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, and also in their several handicraft trades and occupations they were employed in; so Aben Ezra interprets all the works of their hands of merchandise and manufactories:

therefore thou shalt surely rejoice; extremely, heartily, and sincerely, and not fail to express joy on this occasion, and manifest it by a generous freewill offering to the Lord, and a bountiful entertainment for himself, his family, friends, and others.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In joy. Hebrew adds, "surely, or wholly." Hence the Rabbins esteem it unlawful to marry on these days, lest they should blend sacred and worldly joy together.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To wit, in God and the effects of his favour, praising him with glad heart.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

the festival

"the Festival of Shelters"

all the work of your hands

Here "hands" represents the whole person. AT: "all the work you do" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

bless

harvest

works

hand

joy

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

והיית אך שמח ONLY BE REJOICED — According to its plain sense this is not the expression of a command but expresses an assurance: “thou will be rejoicing”. But according to the Halachic interpretation they (the Rabbis) derived from here that the night before the last day of the festival (that preceding the eighth day) is to be included in the obligation of rejoicing (Sukkah 48a; cf. Sifrei Devarim 142:4).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.