15. The first festival is the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This is as I commanded you. During this time you will eat bread that is made without yeast. This will continue for seven days. You will do this during the month of Abib, because this is the time when you came out of Egypt. Everyone must bring a sacrifice to me at that time.
16. “The second festival will be the Festival of Harvest. This festival will be during the early summer when you begin harvesting the first crops that you planted in your fields. “The third festival will be the Festival of Shelters. This will be in the fall, when you finish gathering the rest of the crops from your fields.
17. “So three times each year all the men will come to the special place to be with the Lord GOD.
18. “When you kill an animal and offer its blood as a sacrifice, you must not include anything that has yeast in it. And when you burn the fat from my sacrifice, don’t let any of it remain until morning.
19. “When you gather your crops at harvest time, you should bring the first of everything you harvest to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not eat the meat from a young goat that is boiled in its mother’s milk.”
20. “I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to lead you to the place that I have prepared for you.
21. Obey the angel and follow him. Be careful in his presence, and don’t rebel against him. The angel will not forgive the wrong things you do to him. He has my power in him.
22. If you listen to what he says and do everything I tell you, then I will be an enemy to all of your enemies. I will be against everyone who is against you.
23. “My angel will lead you through the land. He will lead you against many different people—the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But I will defeat all of them.
24. “Don’t worship their gods. Don’t ever bow down to those gods. You must never live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols. And you must break the stones that help them remember their gods.
25. You must serve the Lord your God. If you do this, I will bless you with plenty of bread and water. I will take away all sickness from you.
26. Your women will all be able to have babies. None of their babies will die at birth. And I will allow you to live long lives.
27. “When you fight against your enemies, I will send my great power before you. I will help you defeat all your enemies. The people who are against you will become confused in battle and run away.