Exodus 23

1 Thou shalt not receiue a false tale, neyther shalt thou put thine hande with the wicked, to be a false witnes.

Do not let a false statement go further; do not make an agreement with evil-doers to be a false witness.

2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do euil, neither agree in a controuersie to decline after many and ouerthrowe the trueth.

Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision:

3 Thou shalt not esteeme a poore man in his cause.

But, on the other hand, do not be turned from what is right in order to give support to a poor man's cause.

4 If thou meete thine enemies oxe, or his asse going astray, thou shalt bring him to him againe.

If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him.

5 If thou see thine enemies asse lying vnder his burden, wilt thou cease to helpe him? thou shalt helpe him vp againe with it.

If you see the ass of one who has no love for you bent down to the earth under the weight which is put on it, you are to come to its help, even against your desire.

6 Thou shalt not ouerthrowe the right of thy poore in his sute.

Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause.

7 Thou shalt keepe thee farre from a false matter, and shalt not slaye the innocent and the righteous: for I will not iustifie a wicked man.

Keep yourselves far from any false business; never let the upright or him who has done no wrong be put to death: for I will make the evil-doer responsible for his sin.

8 Thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and peruerteth the wordes of the righteous.

Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.

9 Thou shalt not oppresse a stranger: for ye knowe the heart of a stranger, seeing yee were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Do not be hard on the man from a strange country who is living among you; for you have had experience of the feelings of one who is far from the land of his birth, because you yourselves were living in Egypt, in a strange land.

10 Moreouer, sixe yeres thou shalt sowe thy land, and gather the fruites thereof,

For six years put seed into your fields and get in the increase;

11 But the seuenth yeere thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poore of thy people may eat, and what they leaue, the beastes of the fielde shall eate. In like maner thou shalt doe with thy vineyard, and with thine oliue trees.

But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted; so that the poor may have food from it: and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees.

12 Sixe dayes thou shalt do thy worke, and in the seuenth day thou shalt rest, that thine oxe, and thine asse may rest, and the sonne of thy maide and the stranger may be refreshed.

For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath; so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you.

13 And ye shall take heede to all things that I haue sayde vnto you: and ye shall make no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall it be heard out of thy mouth.

Take note of all these things which I have said to you, and let not the names of other gods come into your minds or from your lips.

14 Three times thou shalt keepe a feast vnto me in the yeere.

Three times in the year you are to keep a feast to me.

15 Thou shalt keepe the feast of vnleauened bread: thou shalt eate vnleauened bread seue dayes, as I commanded thee, in the season of the moneth of Abib: for in it thou camest out of Egypt: and none shall appeare before me emptie:

You are to keep the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days let your bread be without leaven, as I gave you orders, at the regular time in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt); and let no one come before me without an offering:

16 The feast also of the haruest of the first fruites of thy labours, which thou hast sowen in the fielde: and the feast of gathering fruites in the ende of the yere, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the fielde.

And the feast of the grain-cutting, the first-fruits of your planted fields: and the feast at the start of the year, when you have got in all the fruit from your fields.

17 These three times in the yeere shall all thy men children appeare before the Lord Iehouah.

Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord God.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leauened bread: neyther shall the fatte of my sacrifice remayne vntill the morning.

Do not give the blood of my offering with leavened bread; and do not let the fat of my feast be kept all night till the morning.

19 The first of the first fruites of thy lande thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God: yet shalt thou not seeth a kid in his mothers milke.

The best of the first-fruits of your land are to be taken into the house of the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.

20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keepe thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place which I haue prepared.

See, I am sending an angel before you, to keep you on your way and to be your guide into the place which I have made ready for you.

21 Beware of him, and heare his voyce, and prouoke him not: for he will not spare your misdeedes, because my name is in him.

Give attention to him and give ear to his voice; do not go against him; for your wrongdoing will not be overlooked by him, because my name is in him.

22 But if thou hearken vnto his voyce, and do all that I speake, the I wil be an enemie vnto thine enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

But if you truly give ear to his voice, and do whatever I say, then I will be against those who are against you, fighting those who are fighting you.

23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee vnto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, and I will destroy them.

And my angel will go before you, guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand.

24 Thou shalt not bow downe to their gods, neither serue them, nor doe after the workes of them: but vtterly ouerthrowe them, and breake in pieces their images.

Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do as they do; but overcome them completely, and let their pillars be broken down.

25 For ye shall serue the Lord your God, and he shall blesse thy bread and thy water, and I will take all sickenes away from the middes of thee.

And give worship to the Lord your God, who will send his blessing on your bread and on your water; and I will take all disease away from among you.

26 There shall none cast their fruite nor be baren in thy lande: the number of thy dayes will I fulfill.

All your animals will give birth without loss, not one will be without young in all your land; I will give you a full measure of life.

27 I will send my feare before thee, and will destroy all the people among whome thou shalt go: and I will make all thine enemies turne their backes vnto thee:

I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come; all those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you.

28 And I will sende hornets before thee, which shall driue out the Hiuites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from thy face.

I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face.

29 I will not cast them out from thy face in one yeere, least the land grow to a wildernes: and the beasts of the field multiplie against thee.

I will not send them all out in one year, for fear that their land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you.

30 By litle and litle I will driue them out from thy face, vntill thou increase, and inherite the lande.

Little by little I will send them away before you, till your numbers are increased and you take up your heritage in the land.

31 And I will make thy coastes from the red sea vnto the sea of the Philistims, and from the desert vnto the Riuer: for I will deliuer the inhabitants of the lande into your hande, and thou shalt driue them out from thy face.

I will let the limits of your land be from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the waste land to the river Euphrates: for I will give the people of those lands into your power; and you will send them out before you.

32 Thou shalt make no couenant with them, nor with their gods:

Make no agreement with them or with their gods.

33 Neither shall they dwell in thy lande, least they make thee sinne against me: for if thou serue their gods, surely it shall be thy destruction.

Let them not go on living in your land, or they will make you do evil against me: for if you give worship to their gods, it will certainly be a cause of sin to you.