Exodus 23
23
1 ⌞The Lord continued,⌟ “Never spread false rumors. Don’t join forces with wicked people by giving false testimony. 2Never follow a crowd in doing wrong. When you testify in court, don’t side with the majority to pervert justice. 3Never give special favors to poor people in court.
4“Whenever you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering loose, be sure to take it back to him. 5Whenever you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, don’t leave it there. Be sure to help him with his animal.
6“Never deny justice to poor people in court. 7Avoid telling lies. Don’t kill innocent or honest people, because I will never declare guilty people innocent. 8Never take a bribe, because bribes blind those who can see and deny justice to those who are in the right.
9“Never oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be foreigners because you were foreigners living in Egypt.
10“For six years you may plant crops in your fields and harvest them, 11but in the seventh year you must leave the land unplowed and unused. In that way the poor among your people will have food to eat, and wild animals may eat what the poor people leave. You must do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
12“For six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must not work. Then your ox and donkey can rest. The slaves born in your household and foreigners will also be refreshed.
13“Be careful ⌞to do⌟ everything I told you.
“Never mention the names of other gods or let them be heard on your lips.
Laws for Three Festivals
14“Three times a year you must celebrate a pilgrimage festival in my honor.
15“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread: For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because that was when you left Egypt. No one may come into my presence without an offering.
16“Celebrate the Festival of the Harvest with the first produce harvested from whatever you plant in your fields.
“Celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the year when you harvest your crops from the fields.
17“These are the three times each year that all your men must come into the presence of the Master, the Lord.
18“Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. The fat sacrificed at my festivals should never be left over in the morning.
19“You must bring the best of the first produce harvested from your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Laws about God’s Messenger, Who Will Bring Israel to the Promised Land
20“I’m going to send a Messenger in front of you to protect you on your trip and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21Pay attention to him, and listen to him. Don’t defy him, because he will not forgive your disobedience. He is acting on my authority. 22But if you will listen to him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an opponent to your opponents.
23“My Messenger will go ahead of you and will bring you to ⌞the land of⌟ the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will wipe them out. 24Never worship or serve their gods or follow their practices. Instead, you must destroy their gods and crush their sacred stones. 25You must serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your food and water. I will take away all sickness from among you. 26No woman in your land will miscarry or be unable to have children. I will let you live a normal life span.
27“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw any nation you meet into a panic. I will make all your enemies flee from you. 28I will spread panic ahead of you to force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way. 29I will not force them out of your way in one year. Otherwise, the land would be deserted, and wild animals would take over. 30Little by little I will force them out of your way until you have increased enough in number to take possession of the land.
31“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Sinai Desert to the Euphrates River. I will put the people living in the land under your control, and you will force them out of your way. 32Never make a treaty with them and their gods. 33Never let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me and trap you into serving their gods.”
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Exodus 23: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Exodus 23
23
1“You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice. 3You shall not favour a poor man in his cause.
4“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him. You shall surely help him with it.
6“You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7“Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.
8“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
9“You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
10“For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, 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 animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.
12“Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien may be refreshed.
13“Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.
14“You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. 15You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. 16And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labours, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labours out of the field. 17Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
18“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.
19 You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of the LORD your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
20“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. 22But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. 23For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off. 24You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. 25You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from amongst you. 26No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfil the number of your days. 27I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. 29I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. 30Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. 31I will set your border from the Sea of Suf even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32You shall make no covenant 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, it will surely be a snare to you.”
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