Exodus 23

1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Do not let a false statement go further; do not make an agreement with evil-doers to be a false witness.

2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to [do] evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest [judgment]:

Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision:

3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

But, on the other hand, do not be turned from what is right in order to give support to a poor man's cause.

4 If thou shalt meet thy enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him.

5 If thou shalt see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

If you see the ass of one who has no love for you bent down to the earth under the weight which is put on it, you are to come to its help, even against your desire.

6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.

Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause.

7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

Keep yourselves far from any false business; never let the upright or him who has done no wrong be put to death: for I will make the evil-doer responsible for his sin.

8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.

9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Do not be hard on the man from a strange country who is living among you; for you have had experience of the feelings of one who is far from the land of his birth, because you yourselves were living in Egypt, in a strange land.

10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:

For six years put seed into your fields and get in the increase;

11 But the seventh [year] thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy olive-yard.

But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted; so that the poor may have food from it: and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees.

12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thy ox and thy ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath; so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you.

13 And in all [things] that I have said to you be circumspect: and make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard from thy mouth.

Take note of all these things which I have said to you, and let not the names of other gods come into your minds or from your lips.

14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast to me in the year.

Three times in the year you are to keep a feast to me.

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty: )

You are to keep the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days let your bread be without leaven, as I gave you orders, at the regular time in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt); and let no one come before me without an offering:

16 And the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of in-gathering, [which] is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.

And the feast of the grain-cutting, the first-fruits of your planted fields: and the feast at the start of the year, when you have got in all the fruit from your fields.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God.

Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord God.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

Do not give the blood of my offering with leavened bread; and do not let the fat of my feast be kept all night till the morning.

19 The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

The best of the first-fruits of your land are to be taken into the house of the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.

20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

See, I am sending an angel before you, to keep you on your way and to be your guide into the place which I have made ready for you.

21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name [is] in him.

Give attention to him and give ear to his voice; do not go against him; for your wrongdoing will not be overlooked by him, because my name is in him.

22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and an adversary to thy adversaries.

But if you truly give ear to his voice, and do whatever I say, then I will be against those who are against you, fighting those who are fighting you.

23 For my Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in to the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, [and] the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

And my angel will go before you, guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand.

24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do as they do; but overcome them completely, and let their pillars be broken down.

25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

And give worship to the Lord your God, who will send his blessing on your bread and on your water; and I will take all disease away from among you.

26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: I will complete the number of thy days.

All your animals will give birth without loss, not one will be without young in all your land; I will give you a full measure of life.

27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thy enemies turn their backs to thee.

I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come; all those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you.

28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee.

I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face.

29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land should become desolate, and the beast of the field should multiply against thee.

I will not send them all out in one year, for fear that their land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you.

30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou shalt be increased and inherit the land.

Little by little I will send them away before you, till your numbers are increased and you take up your heritage in the land.

31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

I will let the limits of your land be from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the waste land to the river Euphrates: for I will give the people of those lands into your power; and you will send them out before you.

32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

Make no agreement with them or with their gods.

33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee to sin against me: for if thou shalt serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to thee.

Let them not go on living in your land, or they will make you do evil against me: for if you give worship to their gods, it will certainly be a cause of sin to you.