Exodus 23
1 “Do not tell to others (false rumors/untrue reports) about other people. Do not help someone who is guilty by (testifying falsely/lying) [about what happened].
You must not give a false report about anyone. Do not join with a wicked man to be a dishonest witness.
2 Do not join a group of people who are planning to do something evil. Do not testify the way the [crowd wants you to], if that will prevent [the judge from deciding the case] justly/fairly.
You must not follow a crowd to do evil, nor may you bear witness while siding with the crowd in order to pervert justice.
3 When a poor person is on trial, do not [testify in] his favor [just] because he is poor [and you feel sorry for him].
You must not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4 If you see someone’s bull or donkey when it is wandering away [loose], take it back to [its owner, even if the owner] is your enemy.
If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you must bring it back to him.
5 If you see someone’s donkey that has fallen down [because of its heavy load], help the owner to get the donkey up again, [even if] he is someone who hates you. Do not just walk away [without helping him].
If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen to the ground under its load, you must not leave that person. You must surely help him with his donkey.
6 Decide the cases of poor people who are on trial [as] fairly [as you decide the cases of other people].
Do not thrust aside justice for your poor in his lawsuit.
7 Do not accuse people falsely. Do not decide that innocent and righteous [DOU] people should be executed, because I will (punish/not forgive) people who do such an evil thing.
Do not join others in making false accusations, and do not kill the innocent or righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.
8 Do not accept money that is a bribe, because officials who accept bribes are not able to [MTY] decide what is right to do, and they do not allow innocent people to be treated fairly.
Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see, and perverts honest people's words.
9 Do not mistreat foreigners [who live among you]. You know [how people often treat] foreigners, because the Egyptians [did not treat you well when] you were foreigners there.
You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
10 Plant [seeds] in your ground and gather the harvest for six years.
For six years you will sow seed on your land and gather in its produce.
11 But during the seventh year you must not plant anything. [If things grow without your planting seeds], allow poor people [to harvest and] eat the crops. If there are still crops (left over/that they do not harvest), allow wild animals to eat them. Do the same thing with your grapevines/vineyards and your olive trees.
But in the seventh year you will leave it unplowed and fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat. What they leave, the wild animals will eat. You will do the same with your vineyards and olive orchards.
12 [You may] work for six days [each week], but on the seventh day you must rest [and not work]. And on the seventh day you must allow your work animals and your slaves and the foreigners [who live among you] also [to rest and] be refreshed.
During six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest. Do this so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and so that your female slave's son and any foreigner may rest and be refreshed.
13 Make certain that you obey everything that I have commanded [you to do]. Do not pray to [MTY] other gods. Do not even mention their names.”
Pay attention to everything that I have said to you. Do not mention the names of other gods, nor let their names be heard from your mouth.
14 “Every year you must celebrate three festivals to [honor] me.
You must travel to hold a festival for me three times every year.
15 [The first one] is the Festival of Bread That Has No Yeast. Celebrate it in the month [that is named] Abib. That is the month in which you left Egypt. Celebrate it in the way that I commanded you. And always bring [LIT] an offering when you come to worship me.
You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you will eat unleavened bread for seven days. At that time, you will appear before me in the month of Aviv, which is fixed for this purpose. It was in this month that you came out from Egypt. But you must not appear before me empty-handed.
16 The second one is the Festival of Harvesting. During that festival you must offer to me the first parts/harvest of your crops that grow from the seeds that you planted. The third one is the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters. That will be after you finish harvesting your grain and grapes and fruit.
You must observe the Festival of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors when you sowed seed in the fields. Also you must observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your produce from the fields.
17 Every year, at each of these times, all the men must gather together to worship me, Yahweh God.
All your males must appear before the Lord Yahweh three times every year.
18 When you sacrifice an animal [and offer it] to me, you must not offer bread that has been baked with yeast. [When you] offer sacrifices, [burn] the fat [from the animals on that same day]. Do not allow any fat to remain until the next morning.
You must not offer the blood from sacrifices made to me with bread containing yeast. The fat from the sacrifices at my festivals must not remain all night until the morning.
19 Each year, when you harvest your crops, bring to the place where you worship me, Yahweh God, the first part of what you harvest. When you kill a (young animal/kid [or lamb or calf)], do not [prepare to eat it by] boiling it in its mother’s milk.”
You must bring the choicest firstfruits from your land into my house, the house of Yahweh your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
20 “Note this: I am going to send an angel ahead of you, to guard you as you travel and to bring you safely to the place that I have prepared [for you]. Pay attention to what he says and obey him. Do not rebel against him, because he will have my authority [MTY] and he will (punish/not forgive) [LIT] you if you rebel against him.
I am going to send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.
Be attentive to him and obey him. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions. My name is on him.
22 But if you pay attention to what he says and if you do all that I tell you [to do], I will fight strongly [DOU] against all of your enemies.
If you indeed obey his voice and do everything that I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23 My angel will go ahead of you, and will take you to where the Amor and Heth and Periz and Canaan and Hiv and Jebus people-groups live, and I will completely get rid of them.
My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. I will destroy them.
24 Do not bow down before their gods/idols or worship them. And do not do the things [that they think that their gods want] them to do. Completely destroy their gods/idols, and smash to pieces their sacred stones.
You must not bow down to their gods, worship them, or do as they do. Instead, you must completely overthrow them and smash their stone pillars in pieces.
25 You must worship me, Yahweh God. [If you do that], I will bless your (OR, bless [you by giving you]) food and water, and I will protect you from becoming sick.
You must worship Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and water. I will remove sickness from among you.
26 No women in your land will have (miscarriages/babies that will die after being born prematurely), and no women will be unable to become pregnant. And I will enable you to live a long time.
No woman will be barren or will miscarry her young in your land. I will give you long lives.
27 I will cause the people who oppose you to become very afraid of me. I will cause the people whom you fight against to become very confused. And then I will cause them to turn around and run away from you.
I will send fear of myself on those into whose land you advance. I will kill all the people whom you meet. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in fright.
28 I will cause your enemies to become terrified. And I will expel the Hiv, Canaan, and Heth people-groups from your land.
I will send hornets before you that will drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.
29 I will not expel [all of] them in less than one year. If I did that, your land would become deserted, and there would be very many wild animals ([that would attack you/you would not be able to control]).
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, or the land would become abandoned, and the wild animals would become too many for you.
30 I will expel those people-groups slowly, a few at a time, until the number of your people increases and you are able to live everywhere in the land.
Instead, I will drive them out little by little from before you until you become fruitful and inherit the land.
31 I will cause the borders of your land to extend from the (Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba) [in the southeast] to the Mediterranean Sea [in the northwest], and from the [Sinai] Desert [in the southwest] to the [Euphrates] River [in the northeast of the country]. I will enable you [MTY] to expel the people who live there, so that you will expel them as you occupy more of the country.
I will fix your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will give you victory over the land's inhabitants. You will drive them out before yourselves.
32 You must not make any agreement/treaty with those people or with their gods.
You must not make a covenant with them or with their gods.
33 Do not allow [those people] to live in your land, in order that they do not cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, [you will not be able to escape from worshiping them and sinning against me, just like someone caught] in a trap [is unable to escape] [MET].”
They must not live in your land, or they would make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, this will surely become a trap for you.'”
