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 receive a vain report: you shall not agree with the unjust [man] to become an unjust 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 associate with the multitude for evil; you shall not join yourself with a multitude to turn aside with the majority so as to shut out judgment.

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

And you shall not spare a poor man in judgment.

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

And if you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall turn them back and restore them 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.

And if you see your enemy's ass fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by it, but shall help to raise it with him.

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

You shall not wrest the sentence of the poor in his judgment.

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 abstain from every unjust thing: you shall not kill the innocent and just, and you shall not justify the wicked for gifts.

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 not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the seeing, and corrupt just words.

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.

And you shall not afflict a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger; for you were yourselves strangers in the land of Egypt.

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

Six years you shall sow your land, and gather in the fruits of it.

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 let it rest, and leave it, and the poor of your nation shall feed; and the wild beasts of the field shall eat that which remains: thus shall you do to your vineyard and to your oliveyard.

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 shall you do your works, and on the seventh day there shall be rest, that your ox and your ass may rest, and that the son of your maidservant 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.

Observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and you shall make no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall they be heard out of your mouth.

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

Keep you a feast to me three times 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);

Take heed to keep the feast of unleavened bread: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I charged you at the season of the month of new [corn], for in it you came out of Egypt: you shall not 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 you shall keep the feast of the harvest of first fruits of your labors, whatever you shall have sown in your field, and the feast of completion at the end of the year in the gathering in of your fruits out of your field.

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

Three times in the year shall all your males 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;

For when I shall have cast out the nations from before you, and shall have widened your borders, you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither must the fat of my feast abide till 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.

You shall bring the first-offerings of the first fruits of your land into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not seethe a lamb in its 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;

And, behold, I send my angel before your face, that he may keep you in the way, that he may bring you into the land which I have prepared for you.

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;

Take heed to yourself and listen to him, and disobey him not; for he will not give way to you, for my name is on 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.

If you will indeed hear my voice, and if you will do all the things I shall charge you with, and keep my covenant, you shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations, for the whole earth is mine; and you shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation: these words shall you speak to the children of Israel, If you shall indeed hear my voice, and do all the things I shall tell you, 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 as your leader, and shall bring you to the Amorite, and Chettite, and Pherezite, and Chananite, and Gergesite, and Evite, and Jebusite, and I will destroy them.

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 worship their gods, nor serve them: you shall not do according to their works, but shall utterly destroy them, and break to pieces their pillars.

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 I will bless your bread and your wine and your water, and I will turn away sickness from you.

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

There shall not be on your land one that is impotent or barren. I will surely fulfil 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.

And I will send terror before you, and I will strike with amazement all the nations to which you shall come, and I will make all your enemies to flee.

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, and you shall cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from 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 cast them out in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts 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 cast them out from before you, until you shall be increased and inherit the earth.

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 borders from the Red Sea, to the sea of the Phylistines, and from the wilderness to the great river Euphrates; and I will give into your hand those that dwell in the land, and will cast them out from you.

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

You shall make no covenant with them and 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.”

And they shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me; for if you should serve their gods, these will be an offense to you.