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. # 23:1 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. # 23:2 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,# 23:5 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. # 23:6–7 Ec 5:8; Eph 4:25 8You must not take a bribe, # 23:8 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; # 23:9 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. # 23:10 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 # 23:12 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,# 23:13 Dt 4:9; Jos 23:7; Hs 2:17; 1Tm 4:16
14“Celebrate a festival in my honor three times a year. # 23:14 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. # 23:15 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.,# 23:16 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. # 23:18 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. # 23:19 Ex 22:29; 26:2,10; Dt 14:21
Promises and Warnings
20“I am going to send an angel # 23:20 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. # 23:21 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 # 23:22 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. # 23:23 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. # 23:24 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. # 23:25 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. # 23:26 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 # 23:27 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,# 23:28 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. # 23:31 Gn 15:18; Dt 11:24; Jos 21:44; 1Kg 4:21 32You must not make a covenant # 23:32 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.” # 23:33 Dt 7:16; Ps 106:36
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Exodus 23: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Exodus 23
23
Equal justice for all
The LORD said:
1Don't spread harmful rumours or help a criminal by giving false evidence.#Ex 20.16; Lv 19.11,12; Dt 5.20.
2Always tell the truth in court, even if everyone else is#23.2 everyone else is: Or “the authorities are”. dishonest and stands in the way of justice. 3And don't favour the poor, simply because they are poor.#Lv 19.15.
4If you find an ox or a donkey that has wandered off, take it back where it belongs, even if the owner is your enemy.#Dt 22.1-4.
5If a donkey is overloaded and falls down, you must do what you can to help, even if it belongs to someone who doesn't like you.#23.5 you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 5.
6Make sure that the poor are given equal justice in court.#Lv 19.15; Dt 16.19. 7Don't bring false charges against anyone or sentence an innocent person to death. I won't forgive you if you do.
8Don't accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.
9Don't ill-treat foreigners. You were foreigners in Egypt, and you know what it is like.#Ex 22.21; Lv 19.33,34; Dt 24.17,18; 27.19.
Laws for the Sabbath
The LORD said:
10Plant and harvest your crops for six years,#Lv 25.1-7. 11but let the land rest during the seventh year. The poor are to eat what they want from your fields, vineyards, and olive trees during that year, and when they have all they want from your fields, leave the rest for wild animals.
12Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh day. This law is not only for you, but for your oxen, donkeys, and slaves, as well as for any foreigners among you.#Ex 20.9-11; 31.15; 34.21; 35.2; Lv 23.3; Dt 5.13-14.
13Make certain that you obey everything I have said. Don't pray to other gods or even mention their names.
Three annual festivals
(Exodus 34.18-26; Deuteronomy 16.1-17)
The LORD said:
14Celebrate three festivals each year in my honour.
15Celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread by eating bread made without yeast, just as I have commanded.#23.15 as I have commanded: See 12.14-20. Do this at the proper time during the month of Abib,#23.15 Abib: See the note at 12.2. because it is the month when you left Egypt. And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings.#Ex 12.14-20; Lv 23.6-8; Nu 28.17-25.
16Celebrate the Harvest Festival#23.16 Harvest Festival: Traditionally called the “Festival of Weeks” and known in New Testament times as “Pentecost”. each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters#23.16 Festival of Shelters: The Hebrew text has “Festival of Ingathering” (so also in 34.22), which was the final harvesting of crops and fruits before the autumn rains began. But the usual name was “Festival of Shelters”. each autumn when you pick your fruit.#Lv 23.15-21; Nu 28.26-31; Lv 23.39-43.
17Your men must come to these three festivals each year to worship me.
18Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. And make sure that the fat of the animal is burnt that same day.
19Each year bring the best part of your first harvest to the place of worship.#Dt 26.2; Ex 34.26; Dt 14.21.
Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
A promise and a warning
The LORD said:
20I am sending an angel to protect you and to lead you into the land I have ready for you. 21Carefully obey everything the angel says, because I am giving him complete authority, and he won't tolerate rebellion. 22If you faithfully obey him, I will be a fierce enemy of your enemies. 23My angel will lead you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24Don't worship their gods or follow their customs. Instead, destroy their idols and shatter their stone images.
25Worship only me, the LORD your God! I will bless you with plenty of food and water and keep you strong. 26Your women will give birth to healthy children, and everyone will live a long life.
27I will terrify those nations and make your enemies so confused that they will run from you. 28I will make the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites panic as you approach. 29But I won't do all this in the first year, because the land would become poor, and wild animals would be everywhere. 30Instead, I will force out your enemies little by little and give your nation time to grow strong enough to take over the land.
31I will see that your borders reach from the Red Sea#23.31 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the north-eastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at 13.18). to the River Euphrates and from the Mediterranean Sea to the desert. I will let you defeat the people who live there, and you will force them out of the land. 32But you must not make any agreements with them or with their gods. 33Don't let them stay in your land. They will trap you into sinning against me and worshipping their gods.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012