Exodus 23
International Children’s Bible
Laws About Fairness
23 “You must not tell lies. You might be a witness in court. Don’t help a bad person by telling lies.
2 “You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. You might be a witness in court. Then you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is. 3 A poor man might be in court. You must not take his side just because he is poor.
4 “You might see your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering away. Then you must return it to him. 5 You might see that your enemy’s donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy. You must not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.
6 “You must not be unfair to a poor man when he is in court. 7 You must not lie when you accuse someone in court. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment. This is because I will not treat guilty people as if they were innocent.
8 “You must not accept money from a person who wants you to lie in court. Such money will not let you see what is right. Such money makes good people tell lies.
9 “You must not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner. You were foreigners in Egypt.
Laws for the Sabbath
10 “For six years you are to plant and harvest crops on your land. 11 Then during the seventh year, do not plow or plant your land. If any food grows there, allow the poor people to have it. And let the wild animals eat what is left. You should do the same with your vineyards and your orchards of olive trees.
12 “You should work six days a week. But on the seventh day you must rest. This lets your ox and your donkey rest. This also lets the slave born in your house and the foreigner be refreshed.
13 “Be sure to do all that I have said to you. You must not even say the names of other gods. The names of those gods must not come out of your mouth.
Three Yearly Feasts
14 “Three times each year you must hold a feast to honor me. 15 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Do this in the way I commanded you. For seven days you must eat bread that is made without yeast. You must do this at the set time during the month of Abib. This is the month when you came out of Egypt. No one is to come to worship me without bringing an offering.
16 “You must celebrate the Feast of Harvest. Offer to God the first things you harvest. These are from the crops you planted in your fields.
“You must celebrate the Feast of Tents in the fall. Do this when you gather all the crops from your fields.
17 “So three times during every year all men must come to worship the Lord God.
18 “You must not offer animal blood along with anything that has yeast in it.
“You must not save any of the fat from the sacrifice for the next day.
19 “You must bring the best of the firstfruits of your land. Bring them to the Holy Tent[a] of the Lord your God.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Promises
20 “I am sending an angel ahead of you. He will protect you as you travel. He will lead you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to the angel and obey him. Do not turn against him. He will not forgive such turning against him because my power is in him. 22 You must listen carefully to all he says. You must do everything that I tell you. If you do this, I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight all who fight against you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you. He will take you into the land of these people: the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites. And I will destroy them.
24 “You must not bow down to their gods or worship those gods. You must not live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols. And you must break into pieces stone pillars they use in worship. 25 You must worship the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from you. 26 None of your women will have her baby die before it is born. All women will have children. I will allow you to live long lives.
27 “I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against. I will make all your enemies run away from you. 28 I will send something like hornets ahead of you. They will force the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not force all those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert. Then the wild animals would become too many for you. 30 Instead, I will force those people out of your land very slowly. I will wait until there are enough of you to take over the land.
31 “I will give you the land from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea. And I will give you the land between the desert and the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the people who now live in the land. You will force them out ahead of you. 32 You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods. 33 You must not let them live in your land. If they live there, they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, you will be like someone caught in a trap.”
Footnotes
- 23:19 Holy Tent Literally, “house of the Lord your God.” See Exodus 25:9.
Exodus 23
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Laws about Honesty and Justice
23 “You must not spread a false report. Do not join[a] the wicked to be a malicious witness.(A)
2 “You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.(B) 3 Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit.
4 “If you come across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
5 “If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.[b](C)
6 “You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. 7 Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty.(D) 8 You must not take a bribe,(E) for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words[c] of the righteous. 9 You must not oppress a foreign resident;(F) you yourselves know how it feels to be a foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Sabbaths and Festivals
10 “Sow your land for six years and gather its produce.(G) 11 But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 “Do your work(H) for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the foreign resident may be refreshed.
13 “Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.[d](I)
14 “Celebrate a festival in My honor three times a year.(J) 15 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib,[e] because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.(K) 16 Also observe the Festival of Harvest[f] with the firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and observe the Festival of Ingathering[g](L) at the end of the year, when you gather your produce[h] from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God.
18 “You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of My festival offering must not remain until morning.(M)
19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God.
“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.(N)
Promises and Warnings
20 “I am going to send an angel(O) before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice. Do not defy[i] him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in him.(P) 22 But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy(Q) to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23 For My angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.(R) 24 You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them[j] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.(S) 25 Worship the Lord your God, and He[k] will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.(T) 26 No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.(U)
27 “I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror[l] and throw into confusion(V) all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat. 28 I will send the hornet[m](W) in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you. 29 I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you. 30 I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous[n] and take possession of the land. 31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,[o] and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.[p] For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.(X) 32 You must not make a covenant(Y) with them or their gods. 33 They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, it will be a snare for you.”(Z)
Footnotes
- Exodus 23:1 Lit join hands with
- Exodus 23:5 Or load, you must refrain from leaving it to him; you must set it free with him
- Exodus 23:8 Or and subverts the cause
- Exodus 23:13 Lit mouth
- Exodus 23:15 March–April; called Nisan in the post-exilic period; Neh 2:1; Est 3:7
- Exodus 23:16 The Festival of Harvest is called Festival of Weeks elsewhere; Ex 34:22. In the NT it is called Pentecost; Ac 2:1.
- Exodus 23:16 The Festival of Ingathering is called Festival of Booths elsewhere; Lv 23:34-36.
- Exodus 23:16 Lit labors
- Exodus 23:21 Or embitter
- Exodus 23:24 Probably the idols
- Exodus 23:25 LXX, Vg read I
- Exodus 23:27 Lit will send terror of Me ahead of you
- Exodus 23:28 Or send panic
- Exodus 23:30 Lit fruitful
- Exodus 23:31 Lit the Sea of the Philistines
- Exodus 23:31 Lit the River
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