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 accept a lying voice. Neither shall you join your hand so as to give false testimony on behalf of the impious.

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 follow the crowd in doing evil. Neither shall you go astray in judgment, by agreeing with the majority opinion, apart from the truth.

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

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

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

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

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

You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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 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.

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 “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.

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

Three times in each 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.

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 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.

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 the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.

Three times a year, all your males shall 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.

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

19 You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat 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 “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 will go before you, and preserve you on your journey, and lead you into the place that I have prepared.

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.

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

25 You shall serve Yahweh 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, so that I may bless your bread and your waters, and so that I may take away sickness from your midst.

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

There will not be fruitless or barren ones in your land. I will fill up 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.

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

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

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 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 will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.

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

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

You shall not enter into a pact 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.”

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.”