Exodus 23

Justice for All

23“You ^ashall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an ^bunrighteous witness. ^2cYou shall not follow a crowd to do evil; ^dnor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. ³You shall not show partiality to a ^epoor man in his dispute.

^4f“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. ^5gIf you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

^6h“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. ⁷ⁱKeep yourself far from a false matter; ^jdo not kill the innocent and righteous. For ^kI will not justify the wicked. ⁸And ^lyou shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

⁹“Also ^myou shall not oppress a ¹stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Law of Sabbaths

¹⁰ⁿ“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, ¹¹but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your ²olive grove. ^12oSix days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

¹³“And in all that I have said to you, ^pbe circumspect and ^qmake no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Three Annual Feasts

^14r“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: ^15sYou shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; ^tnone shall appear before Me empty); ^16uand the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and ^vthe Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

^17w“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord ³God.

^18x“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened ^ybread; nor shall the fat of My ⁴sacrifice remain until morning. ^19zThe first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. ^aYou shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Angel and the Promises

^20b“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹Beware of Him and obey His voice; ^cdo not provoke Him, for He will ^dnot pardon your transgressions; for ^eMy name is in Him. ²²But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then ^fI will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ^23gFor My Angel will go before you and ^hbring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will ⁵cut them off. ²⁴You shall not ⁱbow down to their gods, nor serve them, ^jnor do according to their works; ^kbut you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

²⁵“So you shall ^lserve the Lord your God, and ^mHe will bless your bread and your water. And ⁿI will take sickness away from the midst of you. ^26oNo one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will ^pfulfill the number of your days.

²⁷“I will send ^qMy fear before you, I will ^rcause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸And ^sI will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. ^29tI will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. ³⁰Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. ³¹And ^uI will set your ⁶bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the ⁷River. For I will ^vdeliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. ^32wYou shall make no ⁸covenant with them, nor with their gods. ³³They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, ^xit will surely be a snare to you.”