Deuteronomy 16:1-8 instructs to observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it was in the month of Abib that the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by night. The passage mandates sacrificing the Passover from the flock and the herd at the place the LORD chooses to put His name. It also specifies eating no leavened bread with it, and for seven days eating unleavened bread, referred to as the bread of affliction, to remember the day of departure from Egypt. No leaven should be seen among them for seven days, and the meat sacrificed on the first day at twilight should not remain overnight. The Passover must not be sacrificed within any of their gates but at the chosen place of the LORD at twilight, at the going down of the sun, when they came out of Egypt. They are to roast and eat it at the chosen place and return to their tents in the morning. For six days they are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day, there shall be a sacred assembly with no work done.

Deuteronomy 16 presents a complex perspective on the observance of Passover, raising questions about its connection to the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the location of the sacrifice. On the surface, it appears to suggest a Temple-centered Passover sacrifice, which seems to contradict the earlier commands in Exodus 12, Numbers 9, and Leviticus 23 that indicate a domestically-killed Passover lamb. In Deuteronomy 16:1, the phrase "the month of Abib" is used in conjunction with Passover, yet in other scriptures such as Exodus 13:4, Exodus 23:15, and Exodus 34:18, this phrase is consistently linked only to Unleavened Bread. This connection in Deuteronomy 16 subtly associates Passover with the Exodus from Egypt, despite clear indications elsewhere that the children of Israel did not leave on Passover but on the 15th, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Further examination reveals that Deuteronomy 16:1-8 focuses on instructions related to Unleavened Bread, particularly the Night to Be Much Observed, rather than the Passover lamb sacrifice. The text in Deuteronomy 16:2 mentions sacrifices from both "the flock and the herd," which includes bovine animals, contrasting with the specific command for a lamb or goat from the flock in Exodus 12. This allowance for herd animals aligns more with burnt, peace, or thank offerings made during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not the Passover sacrifice. Additionally, Deuteronomy 16:6 specifies the sacrifice at "ba erev," the going down of the sun, which differs from the timing of "ben ha arbayim" commanded for Passover in Exodus 12, further suggesting a different type of offering. The instruction in Deuteronomy 16:7 to "boil" the sacrifice, using the Hebrew word "bashal," contradicts the command to roast the Passover lamb in Exodus 12, indicating that the sacrifice discussed is not the Passover lamb but other offerings permissible to be boiled. Moreover, Deuteronomy 16:3 mentions eating unleavened bread for seven days with the offering, which cannot apply to the Passover lamb since it was to be consumed and burned immediately after the meal. This aligns instead with offerings during the seven days of Unleavened Bread. The phrase in Deuteronomy 16:5-6, "at the place which the LORD your God shall choose," appears to contradict the domestic setting for Passover in earlier commands, suggesting a centralized location like the Tabernacle or Temple, yet Numbers 9 shows no change in the domestic Passover even after the Tabernacle and priesthood were established. Finally, discrepancies such as the mention of six days instead of seven for eating unleavened bread in Deuteronomy 16:8, and the command to return to tents after a night of celebration, point to a focus on the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Night to Be Much Observed, commemorating the Exodus, rather than the Passover itself. These elements collectively indicate that Deuteronomy 16, as it stands, may have been altered at a later time to include the term Passover, originally focusing solely on the Feast of Unleavened Bread.