Exodus 23

1 “You must not spread stories that are lies. You must not help bad people by giving evidence that's malicious.

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

2 Don't follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give evidence in a lawsuit, don't corrupt justice by siding with the majority.

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.

3 Don't show favoritism to poor people in their legal cases either.

And you shall not spare a poor man in judgement.

4 If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey that has wandered off, take it back it to him.

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

5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you that has fallen under its load, don't just leave it there. You must stop and help.

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.

6 You must not prevent the poor from getting justice in their lawsuits.

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

7 Don't have anything to do with making false accusations. Don't kill the innocent or those who do right, for I won't let the guilty go unpunished.

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

8 Don't accept bribes, for a bribe blinds those who can see, and undermines the evidence of the honest.

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

9 Don't abuse foreigners living among you, since you know very well what it's like to be foreigners, for you were once foreigners in Egypt.

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.

10 Six years you are to sow your land and harvest crops,

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

11 but in the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that poor people may eat what grows naturally from the field and the wild animals can finish what's left. Follow the same procedure for your vineyards and olive groves.

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.

12 You have six days to do your work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, so that your ox and your donkey can rest, and your slaves' families can catch their breath, as well as the foreigners living among you.

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.

13 Make sure to pay attention to everything I've told you. Don't think to call on the names of other gods—you must not even mention them.

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.

14 Three times every year you are to celebrate a feast dedicated to me.

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

15 You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread as I instructed you. You are to eat bread without yeast for seven days at the appropriate time in the month of Abib, because that was the month you left Egypt. No one can come before me without bringing an offering.

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.

16 You are also to observe the Festival of Harvest when you present the firstfruits of the produce from what you've sown in the fields. Lastly you are to observe the Festival of Gathering-In the Harvest at the end of the year, when you gather in the harvest of the rest of your crops from the field.

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.

17 Every Israelite male is to come before the Lord God at these three times every year.

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

18 You must not offer the blood of my sacrifices together with anything that contains yeast, and the fat from the offerings presented at my festival must not be left until morning.

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.

19 Bring the best firstfruits of your crops to the house of the Lord your God. Don't cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

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.

20 Look, I'm sending an angel ahead of you to protect you on the way and to take you to the place I've prepared for you.

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.

21 Make sure you pay attention to him and do what he says. Don't oppose him, because he won't forgive rebellion, for he carries my authority.

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 However, if you listen to him carefully, and do everything that I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and I will fight those who fight against you.

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.

23 For my angel will go ahead of you and take you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

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.

24 You must not bow down to their gods or worship them or follow their pagan practices. No, you must demolish their idols and smash their sacred pillars into pieces.

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.

25 You are to worship the Lord your God, and he will bless your food and water. I will make sure none of you fall sick.

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.

26 No woman will have a miscarriage or be without children. I will make sure you live long lives.

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

27 I will send terror about me ahead of you which will throw every nation you meet into panic. I will make all your enemies turn and run away.

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.

28 I will send hornets ahead of you to drive out before you the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites.

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.

29 I will not drive them out in just one year, because the land would become desolate and you would have to deal with increased numbers of wild animals.

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

30 Bit by bit I will drive them out ahead of you, until there are enough of you to take possession of the land.

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

31 I will fix your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out.

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.

32 You must not make any agreement with them or with their gods.

You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

33 They must not be allowed to stay in your land, otherwise they will lead you to sin against me. For if you worship their gods, they will definitely become a trap for you.”

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.