Exodus 23
23
Laws About Mercy and Fairness
1“Do not spread reports that are false. Do not help a guilty person by telling lies in court.
2“Do not follow the crowd when they do what is wrong. When you are a witness in court, do not turn what is right into what is wrong. Do not go along with the crowd. 3Do not show favor to a poor person in court.
4“Suppose you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering away. Then be sure to return it. 5Suppose you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has fallen down under its load. Then do not leave it there. Be sure you help them with it.
6“Be fair to your poor people in their court cases. 7Do not have anything to do with a false charge. Do not put to death people not guilty of doing anything wrong. I will not let guilty people go free.
8“Do not take money from people who want special favors. It makes you blind to the truth. It twists the words of good people.
9“Do not treat outsiders badly. You yourselves know how it feels to be outsiders. Remember, you were outsiders in Egypt.
Sabbath Laws
10“For six years plant your fields and gather your crops. 11But during the seventh year do not plow your land or use it. Then the poor people among you can get food from it. The wild animals can eat what is left over. Do the same thing with your vineyards and your groves of olive trees.
12“Do all your work in six days. But do not do any work on the seventh day. Then your oxen and donkeys can rest. The slaves born in your house can be renewed. And so can the outsiders who live among you.
13“Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not speak the names of other gods. Do not even let them be heard on your lips.
Laws About Celebrating the Three Main Feasts
14“Three times a year you must celebrate a feast in my honor.
15“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, eat bread made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Do it at the appointed time in the month of Aviv. You came out of Egypt in that month.
“You must not come to worship me with your hands empty.
16“Celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Bring the first share of your crops from your fields.
“Celebrate the Feast of Booths. Hold it in the fall when you gather in your crops from your fields.
17“Three times a year all your men must come to worship me. I am your Lord and King.
18“Do not include anything made with yeast when you offer me the blood of a sacrifice.
“Suppose the fat from sacrifices is left over from my feasts. Then do not keep it until morning.
19“Bring the best of the first share of your crops to my house. I am the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
God’s Angel Will Prepare the Way
20“I am sending an angel ahead of you. He will guard you along the way. He will bring you to the place I have prepared. 21Pay attention to him. Listen to what he says. Do not refuse to obey him. He will not forgive you if you turn against him. He has my full authority. 22Listen carefully to what he says. Do everything I say. Then I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight against those who fight against you. 23My angel will go ahead of you. He will bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites. I will wipe them out. 24Do not do what they do. Do not bow down to their gods or worship them. You must destroy the statues of their gods. You must break their sacred stones to pieces. 25Worship the Lord your God. Then he will bless your food and water. I, the Lord, will take away any sickness you may have. 26In your land no woman will give birth to a dead baby. Every woman will be able to have children. I will give you a long life.
27“I will send my terror ahead of you. I will throw every nation you meet into a panic. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run away. 28I will send hornets ahead of you. They will drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29But I will not drive them out in just one year. If I did, the land would be deserted. There would be too many wild animals for you. 30I will drive them out ahead of you little by little. I will do that until there are enough of you to take control of the land.
31“I will make your borders secure from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. They will go from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land. You will drive them out to make room for yourselves. 32Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33Do not let them live in your land. If you do, they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, that will certainly be a trap for you.”
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Exodus 23: NIrV
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Exodus 23
23
Laws about Honesty and Justice
1“You must not spread a false report. Do not join#23:1 Lit join hands with the wicked to be a malicious witness.#Ps 35:11; 101:5; Ac 6:11
2“You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.#Dt 16:19; 24:17; 27:19 3Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit.
4“If you come across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
5“If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.#23:5 Or load, you must refrain from leaving it to him; you must set it free with him#Dt 22:1,4; Rm 12:20
6“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. 7Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty.#Ec 5:8; Eph 4:25 8You must not take a bribe,#Dt 10:17; 16:19; Pr 15:27 for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words#23:8 Or and subverts the cause of the righteous. 9You must not oppress a resident alien;#Ex 22:21 you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.
Sabbaths and Festivals
10“Sow your land for six years and gather its produce.#Lv 25:3–4 11But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12“Do your work#Ex 20:9 for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.
13“Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.#23:13 Lit mouth#Dt 4:9; Jos 23:7; Hs 2:17; 1Tm 4:16
14“Celebrate a festival in my honor three times a year.#Ex 34:23; Dt 16:16 15Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib,#23:15 March–April; called Nisan in the post-exilic period; Neh 2:1; Est 3:7 because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.#Ex 12:15; 34:20 16Also observe the Festival of Harvest#23:16 The Festival of Harvest is called Festival of Weeks elsewhere; Ex 34:22. In the NT it is called Pentecost; Ac 2:1. with the firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and observe the Festival of Ingathering#23:16 The Festival of Ingathering is called Festival of Shelters elsewhere; Lv 23:34–36.#Ex 34:22; Lv 23:39; Dt 16:13 at the end of the year, when you gather your produce#23:16 Lit labors from the field. 17Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God.
18“You must not offer the blood of my sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of my festival offering must not remain until morning.#Ex 34:25; Dt 16:4
19“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God.
“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.#Ex 22:29; 26:2,10; Dt 14:21
Promises and Warnings
20“I am going to send an angel#Ex 14:19; 15:16–17; 23:23; 32:34; 33:2 before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21Be attentive to him and listen to him. Do not defy him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for my name is in him.#Nm 14:11; Dt 18:19; Ps 78:40,56 22But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy#Gn 12:3; Dt 30:7; Jr 30:20 to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23For my angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.#Ex 23:20; Jos 24:8 24Do not bow in worship to their gods, and do not serve them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them#23:24 Probably the idols and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.#Ex 20:5; 34:13; Nm 33:52; Dt 12:30 25Serve the Lord your God, and he#23:25 LXX, Vg read I will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.#Ex 15:26; Dt 6:13; 7:15; 28:5,8; Mt 4:10 26No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.#Dt 7:14; Jb 5:26; Mal 3:11
27“I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror#23:27 Lit will send terror of me ahead of you and will throw into confusion#Dt 2:25; 7:23 all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat.#23:27 Or I will give your enemies to you by the neck 28I will send hornets#23:28 Or send panic#Dt 7:20; Jos 24:12 in front of you, and they will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hethites away from you. 29I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you. 30I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous#23:30 Lit fruitful and take possession of the land. 31I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,#23:31 Lit the Sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.#23:31 Lit the River For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.#Gn 15:18; Dt 11:24; Jos 21:44; 1Kg 4:21 32You must not make a covenant#Ex 34:12,15; Dt 7:2 with them or their gods. 33They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against me. If you serve their gods, it will be a snare for you.”#Dt 7:16; Ps 106:36
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