Exodus 23
1 “Do not tell to others (false rumors/untrue reports) about other people. Do not help someone who is guilty by (testifying falsely/lying) [about what happened].
Thou shalt not take up a false report: put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 Do not join a group of people who are planning to do something evil. Do not testify the way the [crowd wants you to], if that will prevent [the judge from deciding the case] justly/fairly.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest [justice]:
3 When a poor person is on trial, do not [testify in] his favor [just] because he is poor [and you feel sorry for him].
neither shalt thou favor a poor man in his cause.
4 If you see someone’s bull or donkey when it is wandering away [loose], take it back to [its owner, even if the owner] is your enemy.
If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
5 If you see someone’s donkey that has fallen down [because of its heavy load], help the owner to get the donkey up again, [even if] he is someone who hates you. Do not just walk away [without helping him].
If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, thou shalt forbear to leave him, thou shalt surely release [it] with him.
6 Decide the cases of poor people who are on trial [as] fairly [as you decide the cases of other people].
Thou shalt not wrest the justice [due] to thy poor in his cause.
7 Do not accuse people falsely. Do not decide that innocent and righteous [DOU] people should be executed, because I will (punish/not forgive) people who do such an evil thing.
Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 Do not accept money that is a bribe, because officials who accept bribes are not able to [MTY] decide what is right to do, and they do not allow innocent people to be treated fairly.
And thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 Do not mistreat foreigners [who live among you]. You know [how people often treat] foreigners, because the Egyptians [did not treat you well when] you were foreigners there.
And a sojourner shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a sojourner, seeing ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
10 Plant [seeds] in your ground and gather the harvest for six years.
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof:
11 But during the seventh year you must not plant anything. [If things grow without your planting seeds], allow poor people [to harvest and] eat the crops. If there are still crops (left over/that they do not harvest), allow wild animals to eat them. Do the same thing with your grapevines/vineyards and your olive trees.
but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy oliveyard.
12 [You may] work for six days [each week], but on the seventh day you must rest [and not work]. And on the seventh day you must allow your work animals and your slaves and the foreigners [who live among you] also [to rest and] be refreshed.
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the sojourner, may be refreshed.
13 Make certain that you obey everything that I have commanded [you to do]. Do not pray to [MTY] other gods. Do not even mention their names.”
And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
14 “Every year you must celebrate three festivals to [honor] me.
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
15 [The first one] is the Festival of Bread That Has No Yeast. Celebrate it in the month [that is named] Abib. That is the month in which you left Egypt. Celebrate it in the way that I commanded you. And always bring [LIT] an offering when you come to worship me.
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it thou camest out from Egypt); and none shall appear before me empty:
16 The second one is the Festival of Harvesting. During that festival you must offer to me the first parts/harvest of your crops that grow from the seeds that you planted. The third one is the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters. That will be after you finish harvesting your grain and grapes and fruit.
and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou sowest in the field: and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field.
17 Every year, at each of these times, all the men must gather together to worship me, Yahweh God.
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord Jehovah.
18 When you sacrifice an animal [and offer it] to me, you must not offer bread that has been baked with yeast. [When you] offer sacrifices, [burn] the fat [from the animals on that same day]. Do not allow any fat to remain until the next morning.
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.
19 Each year, when you harvest your crops, bring to the place where you worship me, Yahweh God, the first part of what you harvest. When you kill a (young animal/kid [or lamb or calf)], do not [prepare to eat it by] boiling it in its mother’s milk.”
The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
20 “Note this: I am going to send an angel ahead of you, to guard you as you travel and to bring you safely to the place that I have prepared [for you]. Pay attention to what he says and obey him. Do not rebel against him, because he will have my authority [MTY] and he will (punish/not forgive) [LIT] you if you rebel against him.
Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Take ye heed before him, and hearken unto his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgression: for my name is in him.
22 But if you pay attention to what he says and if you do all that I tell you [to do], I will fight strongly [DOU] against all of your enemies.
But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
23 My angel will go ahead of you, and will take you to where the Amor and Heth and Periz and Canaan and Hiv and Jebus people-groups live, and I will completely get rid of them.
For mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: and I will cut them off.
24 Do not bow down before their gods/idols or worship them. And do not do the things [that they think that their gods want] them to do. Completely destroy their gods/idols, and smash to pieces their sacred stones.
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars.
25 You must worship me, Yahweh God. [If you do that], I will bless your (OR, bless [you by giving you]) food and water, and I will protect you from becoming sick.
And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 No women in your land will have (miscarriages/babies that will die after being born prematurely), and no women will be unable to become pregnant. And I will enable you to live a long time.
There shall none cast her young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
27 I will cause the people who oppose you to become very afraid of me. I will cause the people whom you fight against to become very confused. And then I will cause them to turn around and run away from you.
I will send my terror before thee, and will discomfit all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
28 I will cause your enemies to become terrified. And I will expel the Hiv, Canaan, and Heth people-groups from your land.
And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
29 I will not expel [all of] them in less than one year. If I did that, your land would become deserted, and there would be very many wild animals ([that would attack you/you would not be able to control]).
I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee.
30 I will expel those people-groups slowly, a few at a time, until the number of your people increases and you are able to live everywhere in the land.
By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31 I will cause the borders of your land to extend from the (Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba) [in the southeast] to the Mediterranean Sea [in the northwest], and from the [Sinai] Desert [in the southwest] to the [Euphrates] River [in the northeast of the country]. I will enable you [MTY] to expel the people who live there, so that you will expel them as you occupy more of the country.
And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand: and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
32 You must not make any agreement/treaty with those people or with their gods.
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 Do not allow [those people] to live in your land, in order that they do not cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, [you will not be able to escape from worshiping them and sinning against me, just like someone caught] in a trap [is unable to escape] [MET].”
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me; for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
