Exodus 23

1 “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.

Do not let a false statement go further; do not make an agreement with evil-doers to be a false witness.

2 You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.

Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision:

3 And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

But, on the other hand, do not be turned from what is right in order to give support to a poor man's cause.

4 If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him.

5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it.

If you see the ass of one who has no love for you bent down to the earth under the weight which is put on it, you are to come to its help, even against your desire.

6 You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.

Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause.

7 Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

Keep yourselves far from any false business; never let the upright or him who has done no wrong be put to death: for I will make the evil-doer responsible for his sin.

8 Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.

9 Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Do not be hard on the man from a strange country who is living among you; for you have had experience of the feelings of one who is far from the land of his birth, because you yourselves were living in Egypt, in a strange land.

10 For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,

For six years put seed into your fields and get in the increase;

11 but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted; so that the poor may have food from it: and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees.

12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath; so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you.

13 Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

Take note of all these things which I have said to you, and let not the names of other gods come into your minds or from your lips.

14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

Three times in the year you are to keep a feast to me.

15 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

You are to keep the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days let your bread be without leaven, as I gave you orders, at the regular time in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt); and let no one come before me without an offering:

16 You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

And the feast of the grain-cutting, the first-fruits of your planted fields: and the feast at the start of the year, when you have got in all the fruit from your fields.

17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.

Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord God.

18 You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.

Do not give the blood of my offering with leavened bread; and do not let the fat of my feast be kept all night till the morning.

19 Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The best of the first-fruits of your land are to be taken into the house of the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.

20 Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

See, I am sending an angel before you, to keep you on your way and to be your guide into the place which I have made ready for you.

21 Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.

Give attention to him and give ear to his voice; do not go against him; for your wrongdoing will not be overlooked by him, because my name is in him.

22 But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

But if you truly give ear to his voice, and do whatever I say, then I will be against those who are against you, fighting those who are fighting you.

23 For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.

And my angel will go before you, guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand.

24 You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do as they do; but overcome them completely, and let their pillars be broken down.

25 So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.

And give worship to the Lord your God, who will send his blessing on your bread and on your water; and I will take all disease away from among you.

26 No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

All your animals will give birth without loss, not one will be without young in all your land; I will give you a full measure of life.

27 I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come; all those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you.

28 I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face.

29 I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.

I will not send them all out in one year, for fear that their land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you.

30 Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.

Little by little I will send them away before you, till your numbers are increased and you take up your heritage in the land.

31 And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

I will let the limits of your land be from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the waste land to the river Euphrates: for I will give the people of those lands into your power; and you will send them out before you.

32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

Make no agreement with them or with their gods.

33 They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Let them not go on living in your land, or they will make you do evil against me: for if you give worship to their gods, it will certainly be a cause of sin to you.