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 spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious 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 crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.

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

You shall not favour 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 donkey 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 donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him. You shall surely help him with it.

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

“You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

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 far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; 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.

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight 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.

“You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens 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 shall gather in its increase,

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 fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, 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 donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien 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.

“Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.

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

“You shall observe a feast to me three times a 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 observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one 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 labours, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labours 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. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night 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.

You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat 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;

“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by 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;

Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, 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 indeed listen to 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 Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; 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 follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish 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;

You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from amongst you.

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

No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will 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.

I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you 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;

I will send the hornet before you, which will 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 animals 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.

Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have 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.

I will set your border from the Sea of Suf even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness 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.”