< Exodus 23 >
1 You do not lift up a vain report; you do not put your hand with a wicked man to be a violent witness.
“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 You are not after many to [do] evil, nor do you testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside;
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 and you do not honor a poor man in his strife.
Likewise, you shall not show pity in judgment of the poor.
4 When you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you certainly turn it back to him;
If you come across an ox or a donkey of your enemy, which has gone astray, lead it back to him.
5 when you see the donkey of him who is hating you crouching under its burden, then you have ceased from leaving [it] to it—you certainly leave [it] with him.
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 do not turn aside the judgment of your poor in his strife;
You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.
7 you keep far off from a false matter, and you do not slay an innocent and righteous man; for I do not justify a wicked man.
You shall flee from lies. The innocent and the just you shall not kill. For I shun the impious.
8 And you do not take a bribe, for the bribe binds the open-[eyed] and perverts the words of the righteous.
Neither shall you accept bribes, which blind even the prudent and subvert the words of the just.
9 And you do not oppress a sojourner, since you have known the soul of the sojourner, for you have been sojourners in the land of 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 And [for] six years you sow your land and have gathered its increase;
For six years, you shall sow your land and gather its produce.
11 and [in] the seventh you release it, and have left it, and the needy of your people have eaten, and the beast of the field eats their remainder; so you do to your vineyard [and] to your olive-yard.
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 Six days you do your work, and on the seventh day you rest, so that your ox and your donkey rest, and the son of your handmaid and the sojourner is refreshed;
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 and in all that which I have said to you—take heed; and you do not mention the name of other gods; it is not heard on your mouth.
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 You keep a celebration to Me three times in a year:
Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me.
15 you keep the Celebration of Unleavened Things (you eat unleavened things [for] seven days as I have commanded you, at the time appointed [in] the month of Abib; for in it you have come forth out of Egypt, and you do not appear [in] My presence empty);
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 and the Celebration of Harvest, the first-fruits of your works which you sow in the field; and the Celebration of the Ingathering in the outgoing of the year, in your gathering your works out of 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 Three times in a year all your males appear before [the] face of the Lord YHWH.
Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God.
18 You do not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice on a fermented thing, and the fat of My festival does not remain until morning;
You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until morning.
19 the beginning of the first-fruits of your ground you bring into the house of your God YHWH; you do not boil a kid 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 Behold, I am sending a Messenger before you to keep you in the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared;
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 be watchful because of His presence, and listen to His voice, do not rebel against Him, for He does not bear with your transgression, for My Name [is] in His heart;
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 for if you listen diligently to His voice, and have done all that which I speak, then I have been at enmity with your enemies, and have distressed those distressing 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 Messenger goes before you, and has brought you to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I have cut them off.
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 do not bow yourself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but utterly devote them, and thoroughly break their standing pillars.
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 And you have served your God YHWH, and He has blessed your bread and your water, and I have turned aside sickness from your heart;
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 there is not a miscarrying and barren one in your land; I fulfill the number of your days.
There will not be fruitless or barren ones in your land. I will fill up the number of your days.
27 I send My terror before you, and I have put to death all the people among whom you come, and I have given the neck of all your enemies to you.
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 And I have sent the hornet before you, and it has cast out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you;
sending wasps ahead, so that they will put to flight the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, before you enter.
29 I do not cast them out from before you in one year, lest the land be a desolation, and the beast of the field has multiplied against you;
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 I cast them out little [by] little from before you, until you are fruitful, and have inherited the land.
I will expel them little by little from your sight, until you have expanded and may possess the land.
31 And I have set your border from the Red Sea, even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you have cast them out from before you.
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 do not make a covenant with them and with their gods;
You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor with their gods.
33 they do not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me when you serve their gods, when it becomes a snare to 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.”