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 raise a false report: put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

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 a multitude to do evil; neither shall you speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:

3 and you do not honor a poor man in his strife.

Neither shall you countenance a poor man in his cause.

4 When you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you certainly turn it back to him;

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

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

6 You do not turn aside the judgment of your poor in his strife;

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

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.

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

8 And you do not take a bribe, for the bribe binds the open-[eyed] and perverts the words of the righteous.

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

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.

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

10 And [for] six years you sow your land and have gathered its increase;

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

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 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 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;

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 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.

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

14 You keep a celebration to Me three times in a year:

Three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year.

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 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 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.

And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, 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 labors out of the field.

17 Three times in a year all your males appear before [the] face of the Lord YHWH.

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

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

Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for 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 shall indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

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.

For my Angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

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 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 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, and he shall bless your bread, and your water; and I will take sickness away from the middle of you.

26 there is not a miscarrying and barren one in your land; I fulfill the number of your days.

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

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

And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.

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 drive them out from before you in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against you.

30 I cast them out little [by] little from before you, until you are fruitful, and have inherited the land.

By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you be increased, and inherit 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.

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

32 You do not make a covenant with them and with their gods;

You shall make no covenant 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 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 to you.