Exodus 23

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

Thou shalt not receive the voice of a lie: neither shalt thou join thy hand to bear false witness for a wicked person.

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 follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.

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

Neither shalt thou favour 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.

If thou meet thy enemy’s ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.

5 If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, do not leave him. You shall surely help him with it.

If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him.

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

Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man’s judgment.

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

Thou shalt fly lying. The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the wicked.

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

Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just.

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

Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: for you also were 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 ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.

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 the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do with thy vineyard and thy 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 thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest: and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.

13 “Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and do not invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.

Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of strange gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth.

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

Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.

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.

Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Egypt: thou shalt not appear empty before me.

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 the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of thy work, whatsoever thou hast sown in the field. The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field.

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

Thrice a 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.

Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of my solemnity remain until 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 carry the firstfruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

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.

Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.

21 Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.

Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in 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.

But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

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.

And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, whom I will destroy.

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 adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues.

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, that I may bless your bread and your waters, and may take away sickness from the midst of thee.

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

There shall not be one fruitless nor barren in thy land: I will fill 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.

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

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

Sending out hornets before, that shall drive away the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, before thou come in.

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 from thy face in one year: lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and the beasts 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 drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land.

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 thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you.

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

Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with 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.”

Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps thy make thee sin against me, if thou serve their god: which undoubtedly will be a scandal to thee.