< Exodus 23 >
1 “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.
You do not lift up a vain report; you do not put your hand with a wicked man to be a violent 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.
You are not after many to [do] evil, nor do you testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside;
3 And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
and you do not honor a poor man in his strife.
4 If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
When you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you certainly turn 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.
when you see the donkey of him who is hating you crouching under its burden, then you have ceased from leaving [it] to it—you certainly leave [it] with him.
6 You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
You do not turn aside the judgment of your poor in his strife;
7 Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.
you keep far off from a false matter, and you do not slay an innocent and righteous man; for I do not justify a wicked man.
8 Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.
And you do not take a bribe, for the bribe binds the open-[eyed] and perverts 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.
And you do not oppress a sojourner, since you have known the soul of the sojourner, for you have been sojourners in the land of Egypt.
10 For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,
And [for] six years you sow your land and have gathered its 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.
and [in] the seventh you release it, and have left it, and the needy of your people have eaten, and the beast of the field eats their remainder; so you do to your vineyard [and] to your olive-yard.
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 you do your work, and on the seventh day you rest, so that your ox and your donkey rest, and the son of your handmaid and the sojourner is 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 that which I have said to you—take heed; and you do not mention the name of other gods; it is not heard on your mouth.
14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
You keep a celebration to Me three times in a 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.
you keep the Celebration of Unleavened Things (you eat unleavened things [for] seven days as I have commanded you, at the time appointed [in] the month of Abib; for in it you have come forth out of Egypt, and you do not appear [in] My presence 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 Celebration of Harvest, the first-fruits of your works which you sow in the field; and the Celebration of the Ingathering in the outgoing of the year, in your gathering your works out of the field.
17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
Three times in a year all your males appear before [the] face of 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.
You do not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice on a fermented thing, and the fat of My festival does not remain until 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 beginning of the first-fruits of your ground you bring into the house of your God YHWH; you do not boil a kid 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.
Behold, I am sending a Messenger before you to keep you in the way, and to bring you to 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.
be watchful because of His presence, and listen to His voice, do not rebel against Him, for He does not bear with your transgression, for My Name [is] in His heart;
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.
for if you listen diligently to His voice, and have done all that which I speak, then I have been at enmity with your enemies, and have distressed those distressing 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.
For My Messenger goes before you, and has brought you to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I have 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.
You do not bow yourself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but utterly devote them, and thoroughly break their standing pillars.
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 you have served your God YHWH, and He has blessed your bread and your water, and I have turned aside sickness from your heart;
26 No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.
there is not a miscarrying and barren one in your land; I fulfill the number of your days.
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 send My terror before you, and I have put to death all the people among whom you come, and I have given the neck of all your enemies to you.
28 I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
And I have sent the hornet before you, and it has cast out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you;
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 do not cast them out from before you in one year, lest the land be a desolation, and the beast of the field has multiplied against you;
30 Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.
I cast them out little [by] little from before you, until you are fruitful, and have inherited 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 have set your border from the Red Sea, even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you have cast them out from before you.
32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
You do not make a covenant with them and 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 do not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me when you serve their gods, when it becomes a snare to you.”