Laws about Honesty and Justice
1“You must not spread a false report. Do not joina the wicked to be a malicious witness.b
2“You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.c 3Do 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.d, e
6“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. 7Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the •guilty.f 8You must not take a bribe,g for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the wordsh of the righteous. 9You must not oppress a foreign resident;i 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.j 11But 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 workk 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.l, m
14“Celebrate a festival in My honor three times a year.n 15Observe 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,o because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.p 16Also observe the Festival of Harvestq with the •firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and observe the Festival of Ingatheringr, s at the end of the year, when you gather your producet from the field. 17Three 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.u
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.v
Promises and Warnings
20“I am going to send an angelw before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21Be attentive to him and listen to his voice. Do not defyx him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in him.y 22But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemyz to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23For 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.aa 24You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish themab and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.ac 25Worship the LORD your God, and Head will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.ae 26No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.af
27“I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terrorag and throw into confusionah all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat. 28I will send the hornetai, aj in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you. 29I 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. 30I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerousak and take possession of the land. 31I will set your borders from the •Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,al and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.am For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.an 32You must not make a covenantao with them or their gods. 33They 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.”ap
Footnotes:
a. 23:1 Lit join hands with
b. 23:1 Ps 35:11; 101:5; Ac 6:11
c. 23:2 Dt 16:19; 24:17; 27:19
d. 23:5 Or load, you must refrain from leaving it to him; you must set it free with him
e. 23:5 Dt 22:1,4; Rm 12:20
f. 23:6-7 Ec 5:8; Eph 4:25
g. 23:8 Dt 10:17; 16:19; Pr 15:27
h. 23:8 Or and subverts the cause
i. 23:9 Ex 22:21
j. 23:10 Lv 25:3-4
k. 23:12 Ex 20:9
l. 23:13 Lit mouth
m. 23:13 Dt 4:9; Jos 23:7; Hs 2:17; 1Tm 4:16
n. 23:14 Ex 34:23; Dt 16:16
o. 23:15 March–April; called Nisan in the post-exilic period; Neh 2:1; Est 3:7
p. 23:15 Ex 12:15; 34:20
q. 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.
r. 23:16 The Festival of Ingathering is called Festival of Booths elsewhere; Lv 23:34-36.
s. 23:16 Ex 34:22; Lv 23:39; Dt 16:13
t. 23:16 Lit labors
u. 23:18 Ex 34:25; Dt 16:4
v. 23:19 Ex 22:29; 26:2,10; Dt 14:21
w. 23:20 Ex 14:19; 15:16-17; 23:23; 32:34; 33:2
x. 23:21 Or embitter
y. 23:21 Nm 14:11; Dt 18:19; Ps 78:40,56
z. 23:22 Gn 12:3; Dt 30:7; Jr 30:20
aa. 23:23 Ex 23:20; Jos 24:8
ab. 23:24 Probably the idols
ac. 23:24 Ex 20:5; 34:13; Nm 33:52; Dt 12:30
ad. 23:25 LXX, Vg read I
ae. 23:25 Ex 15:26; Dt 6:13; 7:15; 28:5,8; Mt 4:10
af. 23:26 Dt 7:14; Jb 5:26; Mal 3:11
ag. 23:27 Lit will send terror of Me ahead of you
ah. 23:27 Dt 2:25; 7:23
ai. 23:28 Or send panic
aj. 23:28 Dt 7:20; Jos 24:12
ak. 23:30 Lit fruitful
al. 23:31 Lit the Sea of the Philistines
am. 23:31 Lit the River
an. 23:31 Gn 15:18; Dt 11:24; Jos 21:44; 1Kg 4:21
ao. 23:32 Ex 34:12,15; Dt 7:2
ap. 23:33 Dt 7:16; Ps 106:36
