1Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. 5You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you; 6but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt. 7You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents. 8Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work.
9You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. 11You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 12You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.
13You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 14You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates. 15You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. 16Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty. 17Every man shall give as he is able, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you. 18You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 21You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves. 22Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which Yahweh your God hates.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is classified as part of the "wisdom literature" of the ancient Hebrews. This genre may be said to encompass all literary writings current in ancient Mesopotamia (as well as in the neighboring lands of the Near East, including Egypt) whose content is concerned, in one way or another, with life and nature, and with man's evaluation of them, based either on direct observation or insight. Helpful to a determination of the usage of the term "Wisdom Literature” is an understanding of the root hkm, which underlies the basic expression of "wisdom" in Hebrew and its cognate languages. The root hkm in Akkadian has the meaning of "clever, cunning" as well as "wise" when applied to kings, elders, scribes, diviners, and especially craftsmen and technicians. The notion of skillful "making" gave rise to various adjectives meaning "experienced, able." The force of the term "wisdom" in Akkadian, therefore, was upon a skill or experience that brought expertise or enablement in an endeavor. In Biblical Hebrew, this same basic nuance of "skill" is evident in all derivatives of hkm. For example, the term is used of the special ability of "artisans" in Exod 28:3; 31:1-11; 35:30, 35; 36:1-3, of the technical expertise of "stonemasons" in 1 Chr 22:15, of the trained ability of "goldsmiths" in Jer 10:9, of the experienced competence of "mariners" in Ps 107:27, of the craftsmanship of "ship builders" in Ezek 27:8-9, of the artistry of "artificers" in 1 Kings 7:14, and of the wizardry (unusual art) of magicians in Isa 3:3. It also is employed to denote the peculiar prowess enabling the heads of tribes, judges, and kings to perform either special or official tasks (cf. Deut 1:13,15; 16:19; 2 Sam 14:20). Of the 318 uses of the root hkm in the Tanach, 196 instances appear in Wisdom Literature (i.e. Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and some Psalms). In these contexts it bears an ethical/moral nuance, for just as in the secular realm it had been applied to technical skill, so here it is applied to the ability to cope with life in general. Scott in his study of the term in the Wisdom writings concluded: "thus “wisdom” (Hebrew hokmah) gained the sense of 'skill in living,' the trained ability to live in equilibrium with the moral order of the world." The Israelites viewed the world as an ordered system (under the control of G-d, cf. Job 1:21; 42:1-2; Prov 16:1-4; 21:1; Eccl 3:1-8; 5:18-19; 12:14), and the responsibility of wisdom was the instruction of men in the practical affairs of life in such a system. This wisdom is, however, neither simply utilitarian or amoral, but linked inseparably with the concepts of "righteousness" and “the fear of the LORD" (Prov 9:9-10). Therefore, for the Israelite, "wisdom" and the literature that develops a “skill in living life” is related to God's righteous order that has been established ultimately for man's good. As part of this genre, Ecclesiastes was designed as a means of training youth in the often unequal and contradictory experiences of life in this world while reminding them of the godly values and virtues that order the world (Eccl 3:11-12; 8:11-12). Understanding these “facts of life” (Eccl 8:17; 10:2; 11:5) and how to maintain “spiritual balance” throughout the tests of life (Eccl 11:9-10; 12:1, 6, 14) is the product of “wisdom.”