Exodus 23

Justice and Fairness

23"Do not spread false rumors, and do not help a guilty person by giving false testimony.H5375H7723H8088H7896H3027H7563H2555H57072Do not follow the majority when they do wrong or when they give testimony that perverts justice.H310H7227H7451H6030H7379H5186H310H7227H51863Do not show partiality to a poor person at his trial.H1921H1800H73794"If you happen to see your enemy's cow or donkey running loose, take it back to him.H6293H341H7794H2543H8582H7725H7725H77255If his donkey has fallen under its load, help him get the donkey to its feet again; don't just walk off.H7200H2543H8130H7257H4853H2308H5800H5800H58006"Do not deny justice to a poor person when he appears in court.H5186H4941H34H73797Do not make false accusations, and do not put an innocent person to death, for I will condemn anyone who does such an evil thing.H7368H8267H1697H5355H6662H2026H6663H75638Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe makes people blind to what is right and ruins the cause of those who are innocent.H3947H7810H7810H5786H6493H5557H1697H66629"Do not mistreat a foreigner; you know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt.H3905H1616H3045H5315H1616H3588H1616H776H4714

The Seventh Year and the Seventh Day

10"For six years plant your land and gather in what it produces.H8337H8141H2232H776H622H839311But in the seventh year let it rest, and do not harvest anything that grows on it. The poor may eat what grows there, and the wild animals can have what is left. Do the same with your vineyards and your olive trees.H7637H8058H5203H34H5971H398H3499H2416H7704H398H6213H3754H213212"Work six days a week, but do no work on the seventh day, so that your slaves and the foreigners who work for you and even your animals can rest.H8337H3117H6213H4639H7637H3117H7673H7794H2543H5117H1121H519H1616H531413"Listen to everything that I, the LORD, have said to you. Do not pray to other gods; do not even mention their names.H559H8104H2142H8034H312H430H8085H5921H6310

The Three Great Festivals

14"Celebrate three festivals a year to honor me.H7969H7272H2287H814115In the month of Abib, the month in which you left Egypt, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the way that I commanded you. Do not eat any bread made with yeast during the seven days of this festival. Never come to worship me without bringing an offering.H8104H2282H4682H398H4682H7651H3117H6680H4150H2320H24H3318H4714H7200H6440H738716"Celebrate the Harvest Festival when you begin to harvest your crops. "Celebrate the Festival of Shelters in the autumn, when you gather the fruit from your vineyards and orchards.H2282H7105H1061H4639H2232H7704H2282H614H3318H8141H622H4639H770417Every year at these three festivals all your men must come to worship me, the Lord your God.H7969H6471H8141H2138H7200H6440H113H306818"Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. The fat of animals sacrificed to me during these festivals is not to be left until the following morning.H2076H1818H2077H2557H2459H2282H3885H124219"Each year bring to the house of the LORD your God the first grain that you harvest. "Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.H7225H1061H127H935H1004H3068H430H1310H1423H517H2461

Promises and Instructions

20"I will send an angel ahead of you to protect you as you travel and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.H7971H4397H6440H8104H1870H935H4725H355921Pay attention to him and obey him. Do not rebel against him, for I have sent him, and he will not pardon such rebellion.H8104H6440H8085H6963H4843H5375H6588H8034H713022But if you obey him and do everything I command, I will fight against all your enemies.H8085H8085H6963H6213H1696H340H341H6887H669623My angel will go ahead of you and take you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them.H4397H3212H6440H935H567H2850H6522H3669H2340H2983H358224Do not bow down to their gods or worship them, and do not adopt their religious practices. Destroy their gods and break down their sacred stone pillars.H7812H430H5647H6213H4639H2040H2040H7665H7665H467625If you worship me, the LORD your God, I will bless you with food and water and take away all your sicknesses.H5647H3068H430H1288H3899H4325H5493H4245H5493H713026In your land no woman will have a miscarriage or be without children. I will give you long lives.H7921H6135H776H4557H3117H439027"I will make the people who oppose you afraid of me; I will bring confusion among the people against whom you fight, and I will make all your enemies turn and run from you.H7971H367H6440H2000H5971H935H5414H341H620328I will throw your enemies into panic; I will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites as you advance.H7971H6880H6440H1644H2340H3669H2850H644029I will not drive them out within a year's time; if I did, the land would become deserted, and the wild animals would be too many for you.H1644H6440H259H8141H776H8077H2416H7704H722730Instead, I will drive them out little by little, until there are enough of you to take possession of the land.H4592H4592H1644H6440H6509H5157H77631I will make the borders of your land extend from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the inhabitants of the land, and you will drive them out as you advance.H7896H1366H5488H3220H3220H6430H4057H5104H5414H3427H776H3027H1644H644032Do not make any agreement with them or with their gods.H3772H1285H43033Do not let those people live in your country; if you do, they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will be a fatal trap for you."H3427H776H2398H5647H430H4170