Exodus 23

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

You shall not receive a vain report: you shall not agree with the unjust [man] to become an unjust 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.

You shall not associate with the multitude for evil; you shall not join yourself with a multitude to turn aside with the majority so as to shut out judgment.

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

And you shall not spare a poor man in judgment.

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

And if you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall turn them back and restore them to him.

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.

And if you see your enemy's ass fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by it, but shall help to raise it with him.

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

You shall not wrest the sentence of the poor in his judgment.

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

You shall abstain from every unjust thing: you shall not kill the innocent and just, and you shall not justify the wicked for gifts.

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

And you shall not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the seeing, and corrupt just words.

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

And you shall not afflict a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger; for you were yourselves strangers in the land of Egypt.

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

Six years you shall sow your land, and gather in the fruits of it.

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.

But in the seventh year you shall let it rest, and leave it, and the poor of your nation shall feed; and the wild beasts of the field shall eat that which remains: thus shall you do to your vineyard and to your oliveyard.

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.

Six days shall you do your works, and on the seventh day there shall be rest, that your ox and your ass may rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed.

13 “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.

Observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and you shall make no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall they be heard out of your mouth.

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

Keep you a feast to me three times in the year.

15 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.

Take heed to keep the feast of unleavened bread: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I charged you at the season of the month of new [corn], for in it you came out of Egypt: you shall not appear before me empty.

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

And you shall keep the feast of the harvest of first fruits of your labors, whatever you shall have sown in your field, and the feast of completion at the end of the year in the gathering in of your fruits out of your field.

17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God.

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.

For when I shall have cast out the nations from before you, and shall have widened your borders, you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither must the fat of my feast abide till the morning.

19 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.

You shall bring the first-offerings of the first fruits of your land into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not seethe a lamb in its mother's milk.

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.

And, behold, I send my angel before your face, that he may keep you in the way, that he may bring you into the land which I have prepared for you.

21 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.

Take heed to yourself and listen to him, and disobey him not; for he will not give way to you, for my name is on him.

22 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.

If you will indeed hear my voice, and if you will do all the things I shall charge you with, and keep my covenant, you shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations, for the whole earth is mine; and you shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation: these words shall you speak to the children of Israel, If you shall indeed hear my voice, and do all the things I shall tell you, 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, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.

For my angel shall go as your leader, and shall bring you to the Amorite, and Chettite, and Pherezite, and Chananite, and Gergesite, and Evite, and Jebusite, and I will destroy them.

24 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.

You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them: you shall not do according to their works, but shall utterly destroy them, and break to pieces their pillars.

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

And you shall serve the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your wine and your water, and I will turn away sickness from you.

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

There shall not be on your land one that is impotent or barren. I will surely fulfil 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.

And I will send terror before you, and I will strike with amazement all the nations to which you shall come, and I will make all your enemies to flee.

28 I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.

And I will send hornets before you, and you shall cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from you.

29 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.

I will not cast them out in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against you.

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

By little [and little] I will cast them out from before you, until you shall be increased and inherit the earth.

31 I will set your border from the Red Sea 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.

And I will set your borders from the Red Sea, to the sea of the Phylistines, and from the wilderness to the great river Euphrates; and I will give into your hand those that dwell in the land, and will cast them out from you.

32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

33 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.”

And they shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me; for if you should serve their gods, these will be an offense to you.