Exodus 23
1 “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.
'Thou dost not lift up a vain report; thou dost not put thy 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.
'Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou 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 a poor man thou dost not honour in his strife.
4 If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
'When thou meetest thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou dost 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 thou seest the ass of him who is hating thee crouching under its burden, then thou hast ceased from leaving [it] to it — thou dost certainly leave [it] with him.
6 You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
'Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of thy needy one 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.
from a false matter thou dost keep far off, and an innocent and righteous man thou dost not slay; 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 a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open -[eyed], 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.
'And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, and ye — ye have known the soul of the sojourner, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.
10 For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,
'And six years thou dost sow thy land, and hast 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 the seventh thou dost release it, and hast left it, and the needy of thy people have eaten, and their leaving doth the beast of the field eat; so dost thou to thy vineyard — to thine 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 thou dost do thy work, and on the seventh day thou dost rest, so that thine ox and thine ass doth rest, and the son of thine 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 unto you ye do take heed; and the name of other gods ye do not mention; it is not heard on thy mouth.
14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
'Three times thou dost keep a feast to Me 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.
the Feast of Unleavened things thou dost keep; seven days thou dost eat unleavened things, as I have commanded thee, at the time appointed [in] the month of Abib; for in it thou hast come forth out of Egypt, and ye 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 Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of thy works which thou sowest in the field; and the Feast of the In-Gathering, in the outgoing of the year, in thy gathering thy 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 do all thy males appear before the face of the Lord Jehovah.
18 You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.
'Thou dost not sacrifice on a fermented thing the blood of My sacrifice, and the fat of My festival doth not remain till 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 thy ground thou dost bring into the house of Jehovah thy God; thou dost 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.
'Lo, I am sending a messenger before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee in unto 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 hearken to his voice, rebel not against him, for he beareth not 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 thou diligently hearken to his voice, and hast done all that which I speak, then I have been at enmity with thine enemies, and have distressed those distressing thee.
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 goeth before thee, and hath brought thee in unto 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.
'Thou dost not bow thyself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but dost 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 ye have served Jehovah your God, and He hath blessed thy bread and thy water, and I have turned aside sickness from thine 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 thy land; the number of thy days I 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.
My terror I send before thee, and I have put to death all the people among whom thou comest, and I have given the neck of all thine enemies unto thee.
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 thee, and it hath cast 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 cast them not out from before thee in one year, lest the land be a desolation, and the beast of the field hath multiplied against thee;
30 Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.
little [by] little I cast them out from before thee, till thou art fruitful, and hast 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 thy border from the Red Sea, even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River: for I give into your hand the inhabitants of the land, and thou hast cast them out from before thee;
32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
thou dost 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 thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against Me when thou servest their gods, when it becometh a snare to thee.'
