Exodus 23

1 “You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

2 “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.

3 You shall not favor a poor man in his cause.

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

5 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 shall not deny right judgement to your poor people in their lawsuits.

7 “Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.

8 “You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

9 “You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery].

10 “For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,

11 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 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 “Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other elohim ·deities· or even let them be sh'ma ·heard obeyed· out of your mouth.

14 “You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

15 You shall observe the festival of Matzah ·Unleavened bread·. Seven days you shall eat matzah ·unleavened bread·, as I enjoined you, at the time appointed in the first month Aviv ·Ripening grain (of a new crop), 1· (for in it you came out of Egypt [Abode of slavery]), and no one shall appear before me empty.

16 And the festival of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the festival of in-gathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your labors out of the field.

17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before 'Adon Adonai [Lord Yahweh].

18 “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 first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Adonai your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk fat.

20 “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 Pay attention to him, and sh'ma ·hear obey· his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your rebellious breaches of relationships, for my name is in him.

22 But if you sh'ma ·hear obey· sh'ma ·hear obey· his voice, and sh'ma ·hear obey· all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite [Descendants of Talkers], the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear], the Perizzite [Descendant of Belonging to village], the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled], the Hivite [Wicked], and the Jebusite [Descendants of Thresher]; and I will cut them off.

24 You shall not hawa ·bow low, prostrate· to their deities, nor abad ·serve· them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.

25 You shall serve Adonai your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

26 No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

27 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 I will send the hornet before you, which will divorce and drive out the Hivite [Wicked], the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled], and the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear], from before you.

29 I will not divorce them from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.

30 Little by little I will divorce them from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.

31 I will set your border from the Sea of Suf [Reed Sea] even to the sea of the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)], and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall divorce them from before you.

32 You shall make no covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties· with them, nor with their elohim ·deities·.

33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin ·err (the standard goal)· against me, for if you abad ·serve· their deities, it will surely be a snare to you.”