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 must not give a false report about anyone. Do not join with a wicked man to be a dishonest 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 must not follow a crowd to do evil, nor may you bear witness while siding with the crowd in order 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.

You must not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

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 must bring it back to him.

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 someone who hates you fallen to the ground under its load, you must not leave that person. You must surely help him with his donkey.

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

Do not thrust aside justice for your poor in his lawsuit.

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.

Do not join others in making false accusations, and do not kill the innocent or righteous, for I will not acquit 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.

Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see, and perverts honest people's words.

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 must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for 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 will sow seed on your land and gather in its produce.

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 in the seventh year you will leave it unplowed and fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat. What they leave, the wild animals will eat. You will do the same with your vineyards and olive orchards.

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.

During six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest. Do this so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and so that your female slave's son and any foreigner may rest and 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.

Pay attention to everything that I have said to you. Do not mention the names of other gods, nor let their names be heard from your mouth.

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

You must travel to hold a festival for me three times every 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 are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you will eat unleavened bread for seven days. At that time, you will appear before me in the month of Aviv, which is fixed for this purpose. It was in this month that you came out from Egypt. But you must not appear before me empty-handed.

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.

You must observe the Festival of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors when you sowed seed in the fields. Also you must observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your produce from the fields.

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

All your males must appear before the Lord Yahweh three times every year.

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 must not offer the blood from sacrifices made to me with bread containing yeast. The fat from the sacrifices at my festivals must not 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.

You must bring the choicest firstfruits from your land into my house, the house of Yahweh your God. You must not boil a young goat 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.

I am going to send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place that 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.

Be attentive to him and obey him. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions. My name is on 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.

If you indeed obey his voice and do everything that I tell you, 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.

My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. I will destroy them.

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 must not bow down to their gods, worship them, or do as they do. Instead, you must completely overthrow them and smash their stone pillars in pieces.

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 must worship Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and water. I will remove sickness from among you.

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 woman will be barren or will miscarry her young in your land. I will give you long lives.

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 fear of myself on those into whose land you advance. I will kill all the people whom you meet. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in fright.

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

I will send hornets before you that will drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and the Hittites 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, or the land would become abandoned, and the wild animals would become too many for 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.

Instead, I will drive them out little by little from before you until you become fruitful 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 fix your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will give you victory over the land's inhabitants. You will drive them out before yourselves.

32 Make no agreement with them or with their gods.

You must not make a covenant with them or 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 must not live in your land, or they would make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, this will surely become a trap for you.'”