Exodus 23

Justice and Fairness in Society

Justice and Fairness in Society

1Thou shalt not raise a false report : put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness . 2Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil ; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment: 3Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause . 4If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray , thou shalt surely bring it back to him again . 5If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden , and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. 6Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause . 7Keep thee far from a false matter ; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked . 8And thou shalt take no gift : for the gift blindeth the wise , and perverteth the words of the righteous . 9Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger : for ye know the heart of a stranger , seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt .

Sabbath and Festivals

10And six years thou shalt sow thy land , and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat : and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat . In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard , and with thy oliveyard . 12Six days thou shalt do thy work , and on the seventh day thou shalt rest : that thine ox and thine ass may rest , and the son of thy handmaid , and the stranger , may be refreshed . 13And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect : and make no mention of the name of other gods , neither let it be heard out of thy mouth . 14Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year . 15Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread : (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days , as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib ; for in it thou camest out from Egypt : and none shall appear before me empty :) 16And the feast of harvest , the firstfruits of thy labours , which thou hast sown in the field : and the feast of ingathering , which is in the end of the year , when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field . 17Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD . 18Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread ; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning . 19The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God . Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk .

God's Promises and Guidance

20Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way , and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared . 21Beware of him, and obey his voice , provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions : for my name is in him . 22But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice , and do all that I speak ; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies , and an adversary unto thine adversaries . 23For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites , and the Hittites , and the Perizzites , and the Canaanites , the Hivites , and the Jebusites : and I will cut them off . 24Thou shalt not bow down to their gods , nor serve them, nor do after their works : but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images . 25And ye shall serve the LORD your God , and he shall bless thy bread , and thy water ; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26There shall nothing cast their young , nor be barren , in thy land : the number of thy days I will fulfil . 27I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come , and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. 28And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite , the Canaanite , and the Hittite , from before thee. 29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year ; lest the land become desolate , and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased , and inherit the land . 31And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines , and from the desert unto the river : for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand ; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods . 33They shall not dwell in thy land , lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods , it will surely be a snare unto thee.