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 accept a lying voice. Neither shall you join your hand so as to give false testimony on behalf of the impious.

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 follow the crowd in doing evil. Neither shall you go astray in judgment, by agreeing with the majority opinion, apart from the truth.

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

Likewise, you shall not show pity in judgment of the poor.

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

If you come across an ox or a donkey of your enemy, which has gone astray, lead it back 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.

If you see the donkey of one who hates you, fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by without lifting it up with him.

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

You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.

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 flee from lies. The innocent and the just you shall not kill. For I shun the impious.

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

Neither shall you accept bribes, which blind even the prudent and subvert the words of the just.

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.

You shall not harass a sojourner, for you know the life of a newcomer. For you yourselves also were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

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

For six years, you shall sow your land and gather its produce.

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 release it and cause it to rest, so that the poor of your people may eat. And whatever remains, let the beasts of the field eat it. So shall you do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

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.

For six days, you shall work. On the seventh day, you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the newcomer and the son of your handmaid 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.

Preserve all that I have said to you. And by the names of foreign gods you shall not swear; neither shall these be heard from your mouth.

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

Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me.

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.

You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, at the time of the month of new grain, when you departed from Egypt. You shall not appear empty-handed in my sight,

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.

for it is the solemnity of the harvest of the first-fruits of your work, of whatever you have sown in the field. Likewise, it is a solemnity at the end of the season, when you will have gathered in all your crops from the field.

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

Three times a year, all your males shall 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.

You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until 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 carry the first grain of the land to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not cook a young goat in the milk of its mother.

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.

Behold, I will send my Angel, who will go before you, and preserve you on your journey, and lead you into the place that I have prepared.

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.

Heed him, and hear his voice, and do not hold him in disregard. For he will not release you when you have sinned, and my name is in 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.

But if you listen to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will afflict those who afflict you.

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.

And my Angel will go before you, and he will bring you to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, whom I will crush.

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 adore their gods, nor worship them. You shall not do their works, but you shall destroy them and break apart their statues.

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, so that I may bless your bread and your waters, and so that I may take away sickness from your midst.

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

There will not be fruitless or barren ones in your land. I will fill up 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.

I will send my terror to run ahead of you, and I will kill all the people to whom you will enter. And I will turn the backs of all your enemies before you,

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

sending wasps ahead, so that they will put to flight the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, before you enter.

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 from your face in one year, lest the land be reduced to a wilderness and the wild beasts increase 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.

I will expel them little by little from your sight, until you have expanded and may possess the land.

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.

Then I will set your limits to be from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Palestinians, and from the desert all the way to the river. I will deliver into your hands the inhabitants of the land, and I will cast them out from your sight.

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

You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor with 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.”

They may not live on your land, lest perhaps they may cause you to sin against me, if you serve their gods, which certainly would be a temptation for you.”