Exodus 23

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

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

2 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.

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

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

Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

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

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

5 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.

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.

6 You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.

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

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

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

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

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

9 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.

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

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

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

11 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.

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.

12 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.

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.

13 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.

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.

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

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

15 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,

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: )

16 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

19 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.

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.

20 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.

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

21 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.

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

22 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.

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.

23 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.

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.

24 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.

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.

25 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.

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.

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

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

27 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,

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.

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

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

29 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.

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.

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

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

31 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.

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.

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

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

33 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.”

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.