Exodus 23

1 You shall not receive a vain report: you shall not agree with the unjust [man] to become an unjust witness.

“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.

2 You shall not associate with the multitude for evil; you shall not join yourself with a multitude to turn aside with the majority so as to shut out judgement.

You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.

3 And you shall not spare a poor man in judgement.

And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

4 And if you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall turn them back and restore them to him.

If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

5 And if you see your enemy's ass fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by it, but shall help to raise it with him.

If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it.

6 You shall not wrest the sentence of the poor in his judgement.

You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.

7 You shall abstain from every unjust thing: you shall not kill the innocent and just, and you shall not justify the wicked for gifts.

Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

8 And you shall not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the seeing, and corrupt just words.

Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

9 And you shall not afflict a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger; for you were yourselves strangers in the land of Egypt.

Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

10 Six years you shall sow your land, and gather in the fruits of it.

For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,

11 But in the seventh year you shall let it rest, and leave it, and the poor of your nation shall feed; and the wild beasts of the field shall eat that which remains: thus shall you do to your vineyard and to your oliveyard.

but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

12 Six days shall you do your works, and on the seventh day there shall be rest, that your ox and your ass may rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed.

For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

13 Observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and you shall make no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall they be heard out of your mouth.

Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

14 Keep you a feast to me three times in the year.

Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

15 Take heed to keep the feast of unleavened bread: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I charged you at the season of the month of new [corn], for in it you came out of Egypt: you shall not appear before me empty.

You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

16 And you shall keep the feast of the harvest of first fruits of your labours, whatever you shall have sown in your field, and the feast of completion at the end of the year in the gathering in of your fruits out of your field.

You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

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

Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.

18 For when I shall have cast out the nations from before you, and shall have widened your borders, you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither must the fat of my feast abide till the morning.

You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.

19 You shall bring the first-offerings of the first fruits of your land into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not seethe a lamb in its mother's milk.

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

20 And, behold, I send my angel before your face, that he may keep you in the way, that he may bring you into the land which I have prepared for you.

Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

21 Take heed to yourself and listen to him, and disobey him not; for he will not give way to you, for my name is on him.

Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.

22 If you will indeed hear my voice, and if you will do all the things I shall charge you with, and keep my covenant, you shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations, for the whole earth is mine; and you shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation: these words shall you speak to the children of Israel, If you shall indeed hear my voice, and do all the things I shall tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

23 For my angel shall go as your leader, and shall bring you to the Amorite, and Chettite, and Pherezite, and Chananite, and Gergesite, and Evite, and Jebusite, and I will destroy them.

For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.

24 You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them: you shall not do according to their works, but shall utterly destroy them, and break to pieces their pillars.

You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your wine and your water, and I will turn away sickness from you.

So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.

26 There shall not be on your land one that is impotent or barren. I will surely fulfil the number of your days.

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

27 And I will send terror before you, and I will strike with amazement all the nations to which you shall come, and I will make all your enemies to flee.

I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

28 And I will send hornets before you, and you shall cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from you.

I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

29 I will not cast them out in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against you.

I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.

30 By little [and little] I will cast them out from before you, until you shall be increased and inherit the earth.

Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.

31 And I will set your 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 you.

And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

33 And they shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me; for if you should serve their gods, these will be an offence to you.

They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”