Exodus 23
1 “You must not spread stories that are lies. You must not help bad people by giving evidence that's malicious.
Thou shalt not receive a false report: put not thy 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.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause, to incline after many, to wrest judgment.
3 Don't show favoritism to poor people in their legal cases either.
Neither shalt thou 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 thou meet thy enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt 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 thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to unload him, [thou must not do so, but] thou shalt surely unload with him.
6 You must not prevent the poor from getting justice in their lawsuits.
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy 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 thyself far from a false speech; and him who hath been declared innocent and righteous thou shalt not slay; 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 thou shalt take no bribe; for the bribe blindeth the clear-sighted, and perverteth 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.
And a stranger shalt thou not oppress; for ye know well the spirit of the stranger, seeing ye yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.
10 Six years you are to sow your land and harvest crops,
And six years shalt thou sow thy land, and shalt 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 shalt thou let it rest and lie still; that the needy of thy people may eat [of it]; and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat: in like manner shalt thou deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive tree.
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 shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day shalt thou rest; that thy ox and thy ass may repose, and the son of thy hand-maid, 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 on your guard; and of the name of other gods ye shall make no mention, it shall not be heard out of thy mouth.
14 Three times every year you are to celebrate a feast dedicated to me.
Three times shalt thou 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.
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month of Abib; for in it thou camest 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, of the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in thy field: and the feast of ingathering, at the conclusion of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the 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 thy males appear before the Lord, the Eternal.
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.
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my festive sacrifice 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.
The first of the first-fruits of thy land shalt thou bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid 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.
Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee on the way, and to bring thee unto 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, disobey him not; for he will not pardon your transgression, because 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 thou wilt carefully hearken to his voice, and do all that I shall speak: then will I be an enemy unto thy enemies, and afflict those that afflict thee.
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 before thee, and bring thee in unto the Emorites, 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.
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their deeds; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and completely break down their statuary 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 ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will remove sickness from the midst of thee.
26 No woman will have a miscarriage or be without children. I will make sure you live long lives.
There shall be no one casting her children, nor a barren woman, in thy land; the number of thy days I will make full.
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.
My terror will I send before thee, and will bring in confusion all the people to which thou shalt come; and I will make all thy enemies turn their back unto thee.
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 thee, and they shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
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 thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
30 Bit by bit I will drive them out ahead of you, until there are enough of you to take possession of the land.
Little by little will I drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased and canst 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.
And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river; for I will deliver into your hand the inhabitants of the land, and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
32 You must not make any agreement with them or with their gods.
Thou shalt not make a 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 thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against me; for thou mightest [be led to] serve their gods, and this would surely be a snare unto thee.
