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Exodus 23
Contemporary English Version
Exodus 23
Contemporary English Version
Equal Justice for All
The Lord said:
23 (A) Don't spread harmful rumors or help a criminal by giving false evidence.
2 Always tell the truth in court, even if everyone else is[a] dishonest and stands in the way of justice. 3 (B) And don't favor the poor, simply because they are poor.
4 (C) If you find an ox or a donkey that has wandered off, take it back where it belongs, even if the owner is your enemy.
5 If a donkey is overloaded and falls down, you must do what you can to help, even if it belongs to someone who doesn't like you.[b]
6 (D) Make sure that the poor are given equal justice in court. 7 Don't bring false charges against anyone or sentence an innocent person to death. I won't forgive you if you do.
8 Don't accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.
9 (E) Don't mistreat foreigners. You were foreigners in Egypt, and you know what it is like.
Laws for the Sabbath
The Lord said:
10 (F) Plant and harvest your crops for six years, 11 but let the land rest during the seventh year. The poor are to eat what they want from your fields, vineyards, and olive trees during that year, and when they have all they want from your fields, leave the rest for wild animals.
12 (G) Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh day. This law is not only for you, but for your oxen, donkeys, and slaves, as well as for any foreigners among you.
13 Make certain that you obey everything I have said. Don't pray to other gods or even mention their names.
Three Annual Festivals
(Exodus 34.18-26; Deuteronomy 16.1-17)
The Lord said:
14 Celebrate three festivals each year in my honor.
15 (H) Celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread by eating bread made without yeast, just as I have commanded.[c] Do this at the proper time during the month of Abib,[d] because it is the month when you left Egypt. And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings.
16 (I) Celebrate the Harvest Festival[e] each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters[f] each autumn when you pick your fruit.
17 Your men must come to these three festivals each year to worship me.
18 Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. And make sure that the fat of the animal is burned that same day.
19 (J) Each year bring the best part of your first harvest to the place of worship.
Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
A Promise and a Warning
The Lord said:
20 I am sending an angel to protect you and to lead you into the land I have ready for you. 21 Carefully obey everything the angel says, because I am giving him complete authority, and he won't tolerate rebellion. 22 If you faithfully obey him, I will be a fierce enemy of your enemies. 23 My angel will lead you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Don't worship their gods or follow their customs. Instead, destroy their idols and shatter their stone images.
25 Worship only me, the Lord your God! I will bless you with plenty of food and water and keep you strong. 26 Your women will give birth to healthy children, and everyone will live a long life.
27 I will terrify those nations and make your enemies so confused that they will run from you. 28 I will make the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites panic as you approach. 29 But I won't do all this in the first year, because the land would become poor, and wild animals would be everywhere. 30 Instead, I will force out your enemies little by little and give your nation time to grow strong enough to take over the land.
31 I will see that your borders reach from the Red Sea[g] to the Euphrates River and from the Mediterranean Sea to the desert. I will let you defeat the people who live there, and you will force them out of the land. 32 But you must not make any agreements with them or with their gods. 33 Don't let them stay in your land. They will trap you into sinning against me and worshiping their gods.
Footnotes
- 23.2 everyone else is: Or “the authorities are.”
- 23.5 you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 5.
- 23.15 as I have commanded: See 12.14-20.
- 23.15 Abib: See the note at 12.2.
- 23.16 Harvest Festival: Traditionally called the “Festival of Weeks” and known in New Testament times as “Pentecost.”
- 23.16 Festival of Shelters: The Hebrew text has “Festival of Ingathering” (so also in 34.22), which was the final harvesting of crops and fruits before the autumn rains began. But the usual name was “Festival of Shelters.”
- 23.31 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the northeastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at 13.18).
Exodus 23
New International Version
Exodus 23
New International Version
Laws of Justice and Mercy
23 “Do not spread false reports.(A) Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.(B)
2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice(C) by siding with the crowd,(D) 3 and do not show favoritism(E) to a poor person in a lawsuit.
4 “If you come across your enemy’s(F) ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.(G) 5 If you see the donkey(H) of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.
6 “Do not deny justice(I) to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 Have nothing to do with a false charge(J) and do not put an innocent(K) or honest person to death,(L) for I will not acquit the guilty.(M)
8 “Do not accept a bribe,(N) for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
9 “Do not oppress a foreigner;(O) you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
Sabbath Laws
10 “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.(P) Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 “Six days do your work,(Q) but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.(R)
13 “Be careful(S) to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods;(T) do not let them be heard on your lips.(U)
The Three Annual Festivals
14 “Three times(V) a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;(W) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,(X) for in that month you came out of Egypt.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.(Y)
16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest(Z) with the firstfruits(AA) of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering(AB) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.(AC)
17 “Three times(AD) a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.(AE)
“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.(AF)
19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits(AG) of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(AH)
God’s Angel to Prepare the Way
20 “See, I am sending an angel(AI) ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.(AJ) 21 Pay attention to him and listen(AK) to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive(AL) your rebellion,(AM) since my Name(AN) is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do(AO) all that I say, I will be an enemy(AP) to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites,(AQ) and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship(AR) them or follow their practices.(AS) You must demolish(AT) them and break their sacred stones(AU) to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God,(AV) and his blessing(AW) will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness(AX) from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren(AY) in your land. I will give you a full life span.(AZ)
27 “I will send my terror(BA) ahead of you and throw into confusion(BB) every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.(BC) 28 I will send the hornet(BD) ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites(BE) out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals(BF) too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession(BG) of the land.
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea[a] to the Mediterranean Sea,[b] and from the desert to the Euphrates River.(BH) I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out(BI) before you. 32 Do not make a covenant(BJ) with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare(BK) to you.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 23:31 Or the Sea of Reeds
- Exodus 23:31 Hebrew to the Sea of the Philistines
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