Exodus 23

1 'Thou dost not lift up a vain report; thou dost not put thy hand with a wicked man to be a violent witness.

“You shall not accept a lying voice. Neither shall you join your hand so as to give false testimony on behalf of the impious.

2 'Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside;

You shall not follow the crowd in doing evil. Neither shall you go astray in judgment, by agreeing with the majority opinion, apart from the truth.

3 and a poor man thou dost not honour in his strife.

Likewise, you shall not show pity in judgment of the poor.

4 'When thou meetest thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou dost certainly turn it back to him;

If you come across an ox or a donkey of your enemy, which has gone astray, lead it back to him.

5 when thou seest the ass of him who is hating thee crouching under its burden, then thou hast ceased from leaving [it] to it — thou dost certainly leave [it] with him.

If you see the donkey of one who hates you, fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by without lifting it up with him.

6 'Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of thy needy one in his strife;

You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.

7 from a false matter thou dost keep far off, and an innocent and righteous man thou dost not slay; for I do not justify a wicked man.

You shall flee from lies. The innocent and the just you shall not kill. For I shun the impious.

8 'And a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open -[eyed], and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Neither shall you accept bribes, which blind even the prudent and subvert the words of the just.

9 'And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, and ye — ye have known the soul of the sojourner, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.

You shall not harass a sojourner, for you know the life of a newcomer. For you yourselves also were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

10 'And six years thou dost sow thy land, and hast gathered its increase;

For six years, you shall sow your land and gather its produce.

11 and the seventh thou dost release it, and hast left it, and the needy of thy people have eaten, and their leaving doth the beast of the field eat; so dost thou to thy vineyard — to thine olive-yard.

But in the seventh year, you shall release it and cause it to rest, so that the poor of your people may eat. And whatever remains, let the beasts of the field eat it. So shall you do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

12 'Six days thou dost do thy work, and on the seventh day thou dost rest, so that thine ox and thine ass doth rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the sojourner is refreshed;

For six days, you shall work. On the seventh day, you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the newcomer and the son of your handmaid may be refreshed.

13 and in all that which I have said unto you ye do take heed; and the name of other gods ye do not mention; it is not heard on thy mouth.

Preserve all that I have said to you. And by the names of foreign gods you shall not swear; neither shall these be heard from your mouth.

14 'Three times thou dost keep a feast to Me in a year;

Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me.

15 the Feast of Unleavened things thou dost keep; seven days thou dost eat unleavened things, as I have commanded thee, at the time appointed [in] the month of Abib; for in it thou hast come forth out of Egypt, and ye do not appear [in] My presence empty;

You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, at the time of the month of new grain, when you departed from Egypt. You shall not appear empty-handed in my sight,

16 and the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of thy works which thou sowest in the field; and the Feast of the In-Gathering, in the outgoing of the year, in thy gathering thy works out of the field.

for it is the solemnity of the harvest of the first-fruits of your work, of whatever you have sown in the field. Likewise, it is a solemnity at the end of the season, when you will have gathered in all your crops from the field.

17 'Three times in a year do all thy males appear before the face of the Lord Jehovah.

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

18 'Thou dost not sacrifice on a fermented thing the blood of My sacrifice, and the fat of My festival doth not remain till morning;

You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until morning.

19 the beginning of the first-fruits of thy ground thou dost bring into the house of Jehovah thy God; thou dost not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

You shall carry the first grain of the land to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not cook a young goat in the milk of its mother.

20 'Lo, I am sending a messenger before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee in unto the place which I have prepared;

Behold, I will send my Angel, who will go before you, and preserve you on your journey, and lead you into the place that I have prepared.

21 be watchful because of his presence, and hearken to his voice, rebel not against him, for he beareth not with your transgression, for My name [is] in his heart;

Heed him, and hear his voice, and do not hold him in disregard. For he will not release you when you have sinned, and my name is in him.

22 for, if thou diligently hearken to his voice, and hast done all that which I speak, then I have been at enmity with thine enemies, and have distressed those distressing thee.

But if you listen to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will afflict those who afflict you.

23 'For My messenger goeth before thee, and hath brought thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I have cut them off.

And my Angel will go before you, and he will bring you to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, whom I will crush.

24 'Thou dost not bow thyself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but dost utterly devote them, and thoroughly break their standing pillars.

You shall not adore their gods, nor worship them. You shall not do their works, but you shall destroy them and break apart their statues.

25 'And ye have served Jehovah your God, and He hath blessed thy bread and thy water, and I have turned aside sickness from thine heart;

And you shall serve the Lord your God, so that I may bless your bread and your waters, and so that I may take away sickness from your midst.

26 there is not a miscarrying and barren one in thy land; the number of thy days I fulfil:

There will not be fruitless or barren ones in your land. I will fill up the number of your days.

27 My terror I send before thee, and I have put to death all the people among whom thou comest, and I have given the neck of all thine enemies unto thee.

I will send my terror to run ahead of you, and I will kill all the people to whom you will enter. And I will turn the backs of all your enemies before you,

28 'And I have sent the hornet before thee, and it hath cast out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee;

sending wasps ahead, so that they will put to flight the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, before you enter.

29 I cast them not out from before thee in one year, lest the land be a desolation, and the beast of the field hath multiplied against thee;

I will not cast them out from your face in one year, lest the land be reduced to a wilderness and the wild beasts increase against you.

30 little [by] little I cast them out from before thee, till thou art fruitful, and hast inherited the land.

I will expel them little by little from your sight, until you have expanded and may possess the land.

31 'And I have set thy border from the Red Sea, even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River: for I give into your hand the inhabitants of the land, and thou hast cast them out from before thee;

Then I will set your limits to be from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Palestinians, and from the desert all the way to the river. I will deliver into your hands the inhabitants of the land, and I will cast them out from your sight.

32 thou dost not make a covenant with them, and with their gods;

You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor with their gods.

33 they do not dwell in thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against Me when thou servest their gods, when it becometh a snare to thee.'

They may not live on your land, lest perhaps they may cause you to sin against me, if you serve their gods, which certainly would be a temptation for you.”