24 and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, aand your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

25 “aIf you lend money to My people, to the poor 1among you, you are not to 2act as a creditor to him; you shall not 3charge him binterest.

26 “If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak aas a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets,

27 for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his 1body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that awhen he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for bI am gracious.

28 “You shall not 1acurse God, bnor curse a ruler of your people.

29 “aYou shall not delay the offering from 1your harvest and your vintage. bThe firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.

30 “aYou shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; bon the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

31 “aYou shall be holy men to Me, therefore byou shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Chapter 23

Sundry Laws

1 “aYou shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a bmalicious witness.

2 “You shall not follow 1the masses in doing evil, nor shall you 2testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after 1a multitude in order to apervert justice;

3 anor shall you 1be partial to a poor man in his dispute.

4 “aIf you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him.

5 “aIf you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.

6 “aYou shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.

7 “aKeep far from a false charge, and bdo not kill the innocent or the righteous, for cI will not acquit the guilty.

8 “aYou shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and 1subverts the cause of the just.

9 “aYou shall not oppress a 1stranger, since you yourselves know the 2feelings of a 1stranger, for you also were 1strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Sabbath and Land

10 “aYou shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield,

11 but on the seventh year you shall let it 1rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

12 “aSix days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as 1your stranger, may refresh themselves.

13 “Now aconcerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and bdo not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard 1from your mouth.

Three National Feasts

14 “aThree times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

15 “You shall observe athe Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the bmonth Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And 1cnone shall appear before Me empty-handed.

16 “Also you shall observe athe Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year bwhen you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.

17 “aThree times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord 1God.

18 “aYou shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; bnor is the fat of My 1feast to remain overnight until morning.

19 “You shall bring athe choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.

“bYou are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.