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 raise a false report: put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous 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 follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall you speak in a cause to decline after many to shift judgment:

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

Neither shall you countenance a poor man in his cause.

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

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

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 ass of him that hates you lying under his burden, and would forbear to help him, you shall surely help with him.

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

You shall not shift the judgment of your poor in his cause.

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.

Keep you far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay you not: for I will not justify the wicked.

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

And you shall take no gift: for the gift blinds the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.

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.

Also you shall not oppress a stranger: for all of you know the heart of a stranger, seeing all of you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

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

And six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in the fruits thereof:

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 the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still; that the poor of your people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard, and with your olive yard.

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 you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest: that your ox and your ass may rest, and the son of your handmaid, 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.

And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.

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

Three times you shall keep a feast unto me 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.

You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread: (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it you came out from Egypt: and none shall 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 the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of your labours, which you have sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labours out of the field.

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

Three items in the year all your males shall appear before the LORD 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 offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until 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.

The first of the first-fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not seethe a kid in his 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.

Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which 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.

Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for 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 shall indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto your enemies, and an adversary unto 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 mine Angel shall go before you, and bring you in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

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 bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but you shall utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

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 all of you shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless your bread, and your water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

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

There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in your land: the number of your days I will fulfill.

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 fear before you, and will destroy all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all of your enemies turn their backs unto you.

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, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before 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 drive them out from before you in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast 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 drive them out from before you, until you be increased, and inherit 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.

And I will set your bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and you shall drive them out before you.

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

You shall make no covenant 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 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 unto you.