Exodus 23

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

Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous 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.

Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:

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

Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

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

If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

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 thou see the donkey of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

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

Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his 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 thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

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

And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

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.

Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

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

And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:

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 the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

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.

Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine donkey may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

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.

And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

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

Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

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.

Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: ( thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty: )

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 harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

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

Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord Yhwh.

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

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until 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 first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of Yhwh thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his 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.

Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

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.

Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for 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 thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

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.

For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

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.

Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

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 ye shall serve Yhwh your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

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

There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.

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 thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

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

And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

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 drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

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

By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit 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.

And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

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

Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor 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.”

They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.