< Exodus 23 >
1 Thou shalt not utter a false report. Do not lay thy hand with a lawless man, to become a witness helping forward violence and wrong.
2 Thou shalt not follow multitudes to commit wickedness, —neither shalt thou answer in a quarrel, so as to turn away after multitudes to mislead,
3 Even a poor man, shalt thou not prefer in his quarrel.
4 When thou meetest the ox of thine enemy, or his ass, going astray, thou shalt, surely bring it back, to him.
5 When thou seest the ass of him that hateth thee sinking down under his burden, and mightest have foreborne to unload him, thou shalt surely help him to unload,
6 Thou shalt not pervert the vindication of thy needy one in his quarrel.
7 From a matter of falsehood, thou shalt keep far away, —and the innocent one and the righteous, do not thou slay, for I will not justify a lawless man.
8 And, a bribe, shalt thou not take, —for the bribe, blindeth the clear-sighted, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 And a sojourner, shalt thou not drive away, —seeing that, ye yourselves, know the, soul of a sojourner; for sojourners, became ye in the land of Egypt.
10 And six years, shalt thou sow thy land, —and shalt gather the yield thereof;
11 but the seventh year, shalt thou let it rest and be still so shall the needy of thy people eat, and what they leave, shall the wild-beast of the field eat, —in like manner, shalt thou deal with thy vineyard with thine oliveyard.
12 Six days, shalt thou do thy work, but on the seventh day, shalt thou keep sabbath, —that thine ox may rest and thine ass, and that the son of thy handmaid and the sojourner may be refreshed.
13 And, in all that I have said unto thee, shalt thou take heed to thyself, —and the name of other gods, shalt thou not mention, it shall not be heard upon thy mouth.
14 Three times, shalt thou keep festival to me, in the year.
15 The festival of unleavened cakes, shalt thou keep, —seven days, shalt thou eat unleavened cakes, as I commanded thee at the appointed time of the month Abib; for, therein, camest thou forth out of Egypt, —and they shall not see my face, empty-handed.
16 And the festival of harvest with the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou shalt sow in the field, And the festival of ingathering—at the outgoing of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
17 Three times in the year, shall all thy males see the face of the Lord, Yahweh.
18 Thou shalt not offer with anything leavened, the blood of my sacrifice, —neither shall the fat of my festival-sacrifice remain until morning.
19 The beginning of the firstfruits of thy ground, shalt thou bring into the house of Yahweh thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of its dam.
20 Lo! I, am sending a messenger before thee, to guard thee in the way, —and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 Take thou heed of his presence, and hearken to his voice—do not vex him, -for he will not pardon your transgression, for, my name, is within him.
22 But if thou wilt indeed hearken, to his voice, and so wilt do all that I may speak, then will I be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries;
23 for my messenger shall go before thee, and bring thee in—unto the Amorite and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, —so will I destroy them.
24 Thou shalt not bow thyself down to their gods neither shalt thou be led to serve them, neither shalt thou do according to their works, —but thou shalt, verily overthrow, them, and, completely break in pieces, their pillars.
25 So shall ye serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless thy bread and thy water, —and I will take away sickness out of thy midst.
26 There shall be nothing casting its young or barren in thy land, —the number of thy days, will I make full.
27 My terror, will I send before thee, and will confound all the people amongst whom thou shalt come, and will deliver up all thine enemies unto thee as they flee.
28 And I will send the hornet, before thee, —and it shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
29 I will not drive them out from before thee, in one year, —lest the land should become a desolation, so would the wild-beast of the field multiply over thee.
30 Little by little, will I drive them out from before thee. until thou become fruitful, then shalt thou take possession of the land.
31 So will I set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines and from the desert unto the River (Euphrates), —for I will deliver into your hand the inhabitants of the land, so shalt thou drive them out from before thee.
32 Thou shalt not make with them or with their gods, a covenant:
33 they shall not dwell in thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against me, —for thou mightest serve their gods, verily! it would become to thee a snare!
