Exodus 23

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

“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].

2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after many to pervert judgment:

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.

3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

When a poor person is on trial, do not [testify in] his favor [just] because he is poor [and you feel sorry for him].

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

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.

5 If thou shalt see the donkey of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

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].

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

Decide the cases of poor people who are on trial [as] fairly [as you decide the cases of other people].

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in its fruits:

Plant [seeds] in your ground and gather the harvest for six years.

11 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 oliveyard.

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.

12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thy ox and thy donkey may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

[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.

13 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.

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.”

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

“Every year you must celebrate three festivals to [honor] me.

15 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: )

[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.

16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

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.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

Every year, at each of these times, all the men must gather together to worship me, Yahweh God.

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

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.

19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother’s milk.

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.”

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

“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.

21 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 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.

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.

23 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.

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.

24 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.

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.

25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

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.

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

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.

27 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.

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.

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

I will cause your enemies to become terrified. And I will expel the Hiv, Canaan, and Heth people-groups from your land.

29 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.

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]).

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

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.

31 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.

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.

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

You must not make any agreement/treaty with those people or with their gods.

33 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.

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].”