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Exodus 23:5-7
New English Translation
Exodus 23:5-7
New English Translation
5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him,[a] but be sure to help[b] him with it.[c]
6 “You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 Keep your distance[d] from a false charge[e]—do not kill the innocent and the righteous,[f] for I will not justify the wicked.[g]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 23:5 tn The line reads “you will cease to forsake him”—refrain from leaving your enemy without help.
- Exodus 23:5 tn The law is emphatic here as well, using the infinitive absolute and the imperfect of instruction (or possibly obligation). There is also a wordplay here: two words עָזַב (ʿazav) are used, one meaning “forsake” and the other possibly meaning “arrange” based on Arabic and Ugaritic evidence (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 297-98).
- Exodus 23:5 sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.
- Exodus 23:7 tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”
- Exodus 23:7 tn Heb “a false matter,” this expression in this context would have to be a case in law that was false or that could only be won by falsehood.
- Exodus 23:7 tn The two clauses probably should be related: the getting involved in the false charge could lead to the death of an innocent person (so, e.g., Naboth in 1 Kgs 21:10-13).
- Exodus 23:7 sn God will not declare right the one who is in the wrong. Society should also be consistent, but it cannot see the intents and motives, as God can.
New English Translation (NET)
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