Exodus 23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Justice for All
23 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with the wicked to act as a malicious witness.(A) 2 You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice,[a](B) 3 nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit.
4 “When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back.(C)
5 “When you see the donkey of one who hates you struggling under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free.(D)
6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits.(E) 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and those in the right, for I will not acquit the guilty.(F) 8 You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds officials and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.(G)
9 “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.(H)
Sabbatical Year and Sabbath
10 “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,(I) 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and with your olive orchard.
12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may have relief and your homeborn slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.(J) 13 Be attentive to all that I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
The Annual Festivals
14 “Three times in the year you shall hold a festival for me. 15 You shall observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread; as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt.
“No one shall appear before me empty-handed.(K)
16 “You shall observe the Festival of Harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.(L) 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 anything leavened or let the fat of my festival remain until the morning.
19 “The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.(M)
The Conquest of Canaan Promised
20 “I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.(N) 21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.(O)
22 “But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.(P)
23 “When my angel goes in front of you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,(Q) 24 you shall not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces.(R) 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and I[b] will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.(S) 26 No one shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.(T) 27 I will send my terror in front of you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send swarms of hornets[c] in front of you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.(U) 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.(V) 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea[d] to the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will hand over to you the inhabitants of the land, and you shall drive them out before you.(W) 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.(X) 33 They shall not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”(Y)
Exodus 23
Evangelical Heritage Version
23 You shall not spread a false report. Do not join hands with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. Do not go along with the crowd by testifying in court to pervert justice.
3 You shall not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4 If you come upon your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you certainly must bring it back to him again. 5 If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has fallen down under its load, do not pass him by. You certainly must help him with it.
6 You shall not deny justice to the poor people among you in their lawsuits.
7 Keep your distance from a false charge. Do not put those who are innocent and those who are righteous to death, for I will not acquit[a] the wicked.
8 You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and distorts the words of the righteous.
9 You shall not oppress a resident alien, for you know how it feels to be an alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Laws About Sabbaths
10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, 11 but during the seventh year you are to let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy among your people may eat, and the animals in the fields can eat what they leave. You are to deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove in the same way.
12 Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey will have rest, and so that the son of your female servant and the resident alien will be refreshed.
13 Be careful to do all the things that I have said to you. Do not mention the name of other gods. Do not let their names come out of your mouth.
Laws About Festivals
14 Three times a year you shall observe pilgrimage festivals for me:
15 You shall observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread.[b] For seven days you shall eat bread without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib (for during that month you came out from Egypt). No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
16 Next observe the Festival of Reaping[c] by presenting the first ripe produce of your labors, which you sow in the field.
Finally, observe the Festival of Ingathering,[d] at the end of the year, when you pick the fruits of your labors from the fields. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
18 You shall not offer any bread made with yeast together with the blood of my sacrifices. None of the fat from my festival shall remain until morning. 19 The very first produce from your soil you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.
You shall not boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk.
The Angel of the Lord Will Lead Israel
20 Look, I will send an angel before you to guard you on your way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him. Listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, because he will not pardon your disobedience, for my Name is in him. 22 But if you carefully listen to his voice and carry out all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23 Yes, my Angel shall go ahead of you and bring you into the territory of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Then I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods. Do not serve them or follow their practices, but you must completely overthrow them and demolish their sacred memorial stones. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst. 26 No one will miscarry or be childless[e] in your land. I will grant you the full number of your days.
27 I will send my terror before you, and I will spread confusion among all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs and flee from you. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you. It will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from your presence. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in a single year, or the land would become desolate, and the wild animals would become too numerous for you. 30 As you advance, I will drive them out little by little, until you have grown in number and taken possession of the land.
31 I will establish your border from the Red Sea[f] all the way to the Mediterranean Sea,[g] and from the Wilderness[h] to the River.[i] So I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. 32 You shall not make a treaty[j] with them or with their gods. 33 They are not to dwell in your land, or they will make you sin against me, because if you serve their gods, this will surely be a trap for you.
Footnotes
- Exodus 23:7 Or justify
- Exodus 23:15 Also called Passover, referring to the events of its first day. This festival took place in early spring at the beginning of the grain harvest.
- Exodus 23:16 Also called Pentecost or the Festival of Weeks. This took place in late spring at the end of the grain harvest.
- Exodus 23:16 Also called the Festival of Shelters or Tabernacles. This took place in autumn, when the fruit was picked.
- Exodus 23:26 Or infertile
- Exodus 23:31 The Hebrew Yam Suf (Sea of Reeds) here refers to the Gulf of Aqaba, also called the Gulf of Elat.
- Exodus 23:31 Hebrew the Sea of the Philistines
- Exodus 23:31 The Hebrew word midbar, usually translated wilderness, refers to arid and semi-arid regions where agriculture is not possible but herding is. The word midbar is wider than the English word desert and narrower than the English word wilderness, which includes forested areas. Here it refers to the arid wilderness south of Israel.
- Exodus 23:31 That is, from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the Sinai Peninsula to the Euphrates River
- Exodus 23:32 Literally cut a treaty. See Genesis 15 to see why Israelites referred to cutting a treaty.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.