Exodus 23

1 You shall not receive a vain report: you shall not agree with the unjust [man] to become an unjust witness.

“Do not tell to others (false rumors/untrue reports) about other people. Do not help someone who is guilty by (testifying falsely/lying) [about what happened].

2 You shall not associate with the multitude for evil; you shall not join yourself with a multitude to turn aside with the majority so as to shut out judgement.

Do not join a group of people who are planning to do something evil. Do not testify the way the [crowd wants you to], if that will prevent [the judge from deciding the case] justly/fairly.

3 And you shall not spare a poor man in judgement.

When a poor person is on trial, do not [testify in] his favor [just] because he is poor [and you feel sorry for him].

4 And if you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall turn them back and restore them to him.

If you see someone’s bull or donkey when it is wandering away [loose], take it back to [its owner, even if the owner] is your enemy.

5 And if you see your enemy's ass fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by it, but shall help to raise it with him.

If you see someone’s donkey that has fallen down [because of its heavy load], help the owner to get the donkey up again, [even if] he is someone who hates you. Do not just walk away [without helping him].

6 You shall not wrest the sentence of the poor in his judgement.

Decide the cases of poor people who are on trial [as] fairly [as you decide the cases of other people].

7 You shall abstain from every unjust thing: you shall not kill the innocent and just, and you shall not justify the wicked for gifts.

Do not accuse people falsely. Do not decide that innocent and righteous [DOU] people should be executed, because I will (punish/not forgive) people who do such an evil thing.

8 And you shall not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the seeing, and corrupt just words.

Do not accept money that is a bribe, because officials who accept bribes are not able to [MTY] decide what is right to do, and they do not allow innocent people to be treated fairly.

9 And you shall not afflict a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger; for you were yourselves strangers in the land of Egypt.

Do not mistreat foreigners [who live among you]. You know [how people often treat] foreigners, because the Egyptians [did not treat you well when] you were foreigners there.

10 Six years you shall sow your land, and gather in the fruits of it.

Plant [seeds] in your ground and gather the harvest for six years.

11 But in the seventh year you shall let it rest, and leave it, and the poor of your nation shall feed; and the wild beasts of the field shall eat that which remains: thus shall you do to your vineyard and to your oliveyard.

But during the seventh year you must not plant anything. [If things grow without your planting seeds], allow poor people [to harvest and] eat the crops. If there are still crops (left over/that they do not harvest), allow wild animals to eat them. Do the same thing with your grapevines/vineyards and your olive trees.

12 Six days shall you do your works, and on the seventh day there shall be rest, that your ox and your ass may rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed.

[You may] work for six days [each week], but on the seventh day you must rest [and not work]. And on the seventh day you must allow your work animals and your slaves and the foreigners [who live among you] also [to rest and] be refreshed.

13 Observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and you shall make no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall they be heard out of your mouth.

Make certain that you obey everything that I have commanded [you to do]. Do not pray to [MTY] other gods. Do not even mention their names.”

14 Keep you a feast to me three times in the year.

“Every year you must celebrate three festivals to [honor] me.

15 Take heed to keep the feast of unleavened bread: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I charged you at the season of the month of new [corn], for in it you came out of Egypt: you shall not appear before me empty.

[The first one] is the Festival of Bread That Has No Yeast. Celebrate it in the month [that is named] Abib. That is the month in which you left Egypt. Celebrate it in the way that I commanded you. And always bring [LIT] an offering when you come to worship me.

16 And you shall keep the feast of the harvest of first fruits of your labours, whatever you shall have sown in your field, and the feast of completion at the end of the year in the gathering in of your fruits out of your field.

The second one is the Festival of Harvesting. During that festival you must offer to me the first parts/harvest of your crops that grow from the seeds that you planted. The third one is the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters. That will be after you finish harvesting your grain and grapes and fruit.

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

Every year, at each of these times, all the men must gather together to worship me, Yahweh God.

18 For when I shall have cast out the nations from before you, and shall have widened your borders, you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither must the fat of my feast abide till the morning.

When you sacrifice an animal [and offer it] to me, you must not offer bread that has been baked with yeast. [When you] offer sacrifices, [burn] the fat [from the animals on that same day]. Do not allow any fat to remain until the next morning.

19 You shall bring the first-offerings of the first fruits of your land into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not seethe a lamb in its mother's milk.

Each year, when you harvest your crops, bring to the place where you worship me, Yahweh God, the first part of what you harvest. When you kill a (young animal/kid [or lamb or calf)], do not [prepare to eat it by] boiling it in its mother’s milk.”

20 And, behold, I send my angel before your face, that he may keep you in the way, that he may bring you into the land which I have prepared for you.

“Note this: I am going to send an angel ahead of you, to guard you as you travel and to bring you safely to the place that I have prepared [for you]. Pay attention to what he says and obey him. Do not rebel against him, because he will have my authority [MTY] and he will (punish/not forgive) [LIT] you if you rebel against him.

21 Take heed to yourself and listen to him, and disobey him not; for he will not give way to you, for my name is on him.

22 If you will indeed hear my voice, and if you will do all the things I shall charge you with, and keep my covenant, you shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations, for the whole earth is mine; and you shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation: these words shall you speak to the children of Israel, If you shall indeed hear my voice, and do all the things I shall tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

But if you pay attention to what he says and if you do all that I tell you [to do], I will fight strongly [DOU] against all of your enemies.

23 For my angel shall go as your leader, and shall bring you to the Amorite, and Chettite, and Pherezite, and Chananite, and Gergesite, and Evite, and Jebusite, and I will destroy them.

My angel will go ahead of you, and will take you to where the Amor and Heth and Periz and Canaan and Hiv and Jebus people-groups live, and I will completely get rid of them.

24 You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them: you shall not do according to their works, but shall utterly destroy them, and break to pieces their pillars.

Do not bow down before their gods/idols or worship them. And do not do the things [that they think that their gods want] them to do. Completely destroy their gods/idols, and smash to pieces their sacred stones.

25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your wine and your water, and I will turn away sickness from you.

You must worship me, Yahweh God. [If you do that], I will bless your (OR, bless [you by giving you]) food and water, and I will protect you from becoming sick.

26 There shall not be on your land one that is impotent or barren. I will surely fulfil the number of your days.

No women in your land will have (miscarriages/babies that will die after being born prematurely), and no women will be unable to become pregnant. And I will enable you to live a long time.

27 And I will send terror before you, and I will strike with amazement all the nations to which you shall come, and I will make all your enemies to flee.

I will cause the people who oppose you to become very afraid of me. I will cause the people whom you fight against to become very confused. And then I will cause them to turn around and run away from you.

28 And I will send hornets before you, and you shall cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from you.

I will cause your enemies to become terrified. And I will expel the Hiv, Canaan, and Heth people-groups from your land.

29 I will not cast them out in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against you.

I will not expel [all of] them in less than one year. If I did that, your land would become deserted, and there would be very many wild animals ([that would attack you/you would not be able to control]).

30 By little [and little] I will cast them out from before you, until you shall be increased and inherit the earth.

I will expel those people-groups slowly, a few at a time, until the number of your people increases and you are able to live everywhere in the land.

31 And I will set your borders from the Red Sea, to the sea of the Phylistines, and from the wilderness to the great river Euphrates; and I will give into your hand those that dwell in the land, and will cast them out from you.

I will cause the borders of your land to extend from the (Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba) [in the southeast] to the Mediterranean Sea [in the northwest], and from the [Sinai] Desert [in the southwest] to the [Euphrates] River [in the northeast of the country]. I will enable you [MTY] to expel the people who live there, so that you will expel them as you occupy more of the country.

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

You must not make any agreement/treaty with those people or with their gods.

33 And they shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me; for if you should serve their gods, these will be an offence to you.

Do not allow [those people] to live in your land, in order that they do not cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, [you will not be able to escape from worshiping them and sinning against me, just like someone caught] in a trap [is unable to escape] [MET].”