Exodus 23

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

Thou shalt not receive a vain report: thou shalt 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.

Thou shalt not associate with the multitude for evil; thou shalt not join thyself 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 thou shalt 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 thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt 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 thou see thine enemy's ass fallen under its burden, thou shalt not pass by it, but shalt help to raise it with him.

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

Thou shalt 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.

Thou shalt abstain from every unjust thing: thou shalt not slay the innocent and just, and thou shalt 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 thou shalt 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 ye shall not afflict a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger; for ye 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 thou shalt sow thy 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 thou shalt let it rest, and leave it, and the poor of thy nation shall feed; and the wild beasts of the field shall eat that which remains: thus shalt thou do to thy vineyard and to thine 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 shalt thou do thy works, and on the seventh day there shall be rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and that the son of thy maid-servant 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 whatsoever I have commanded you; and ye 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 ye 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 ye shall eat unleavened bread, as I charged thee at the season of the month of new [corn], for in it thou camest out of Egypt: thou shalt 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 thou shalt keep the feast of the harvest of first-fruits of thy labours, whatsoever thou shalt have sown in thy field, and the feast of completion at the end of the year in the gathering in of thy fruits out of thy field.

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

Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy 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 thee, and shall have widened thy borders, thou shalt 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.

Thou shalt bring the first-offerings of the first-fruits of thy land into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt 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 thy face, that he may keep thee in the way, that he may bring thee into the land which I have prepared for thee.

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 thyself and hearken to him, and disobey him not; for he will not give way to thee, 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 ye will indeed hear my voice, and if thou wilt do all the things I shall charge thee with, and keep my covenant, ye shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations, for the whole earth is mine; and ye shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation: these words shall ye speak to the children of Israel, If ye shall indeed hear my voice, and do all the things I shall tell thee, I will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine 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 thy leader, and shall bring thee 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.

Thou shalt not worship their gods, nor serve them: thou shalt not do according to their works, but shalt 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 thou shalt serve the Lord thy God, and I will bless thy bread and thy wine and thy 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 thy land one that is impotent or barren. I will surely fulfil the number of thy 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 thee, and I will strike with amazement all the nations to which thou shalt come, and I will make all thine 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 thee, and thou shalt cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from thee.

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 thee.

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 thee, until thou shalt be increased and inherit the earth.

31 I will set your border from the Sea of Suf 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 thy 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 thee.

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

Thou shalt 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 thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against me; for if thou shouldest serve their gods, these will be an offence to thee.