Exodus 23:1-13

English Standard Version

23 ^(A)“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a ^(B)malicious witness. ² You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, ^3 (C)nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

^4 (D)“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. ⁵ If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

^6 (E)“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. ^7 (F)Keep far from a false charge, and ^(G)do not kill the innocent and righteous, for ^(H)I will not acquit the wicked. ^8 (I)And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

^9 (J)“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

^10 (K)“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 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 beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

^12 (L)“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

^13 (M)“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.