Exodus 23

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

"You shall not spread a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be an unjust witness.

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

You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;

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

neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.

4 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.

"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

5 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.

If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, do not leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

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

"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

7 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.

"Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.

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

"You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

9 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.

"You shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the heart of a foreigner, seeing you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

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

"For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,

11 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.

but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

12 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.

"Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.

13 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.

"Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and do not invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.

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

"You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

15 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:

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.

16 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.

And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.

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

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

18 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.

"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.

19 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.

The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

20 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.

"Look, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

21 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.

Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.

22 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.

But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 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.

For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, and the Hethite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.

24 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.

You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.

25 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.

You shall serve the LORD your God, and I will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst.

26 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.

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

27 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.

I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

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

I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hethite, from before you.

29 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.

I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.

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

Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.

31 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.

I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

32 Make no agreement with them or with their gods.

You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

33 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.

They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."