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.
3 You
shall not favor 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.
5 If
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,
11 but
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.
15 You
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.
16 And
the feast of
harvest, the first
fruits of your
labors, which you
sow in the
field; and the
feast of ingathering,
at the end
of the year,
when you gather in
your labors out
of the field.
17 Three
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.
21 Pay
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.
22 But
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.
23 For
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.
24 You
shall not bow
down to their gods,
nor serve them,
nor follow their
practices, but you
shall utterly
overthrow them
and demolish their
pillars.
25 You
shall serve the
LORD your God,
and he will
bless your bread
and your water,
and I will
take sickness away
from among you.
26 No
one will miscarry
or be barren
in your land. I
will fulfill the
number of your
days.
27 I
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.
28 I
will send the
hornet before you,
which will drive
out the Hivite,
the Canaanite, and
the Hittite, from
before you.
29 I
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.
30 Little
by little I
will drive them
out from before
you, until you
have increased and
inherit the land.
31 I
will set your
border from the
Red Sea 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.
32 You
shall make no
covenant with them,
nor with
their gods.
33 They
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.”