Sh'mot (Exo) 23

1“You are not to repeat false rumors; do not join hands with the wicked by offering perjured testimony. 2Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don’t allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice. 3On the other hand, don’t favor a person’s lawsuit simply because he is poor.

4“If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey straying, you must return it to him. 5If you see the donkey which belongs to someone who hates you lying down helpless under its load, you are not to pass him by but to go and help him free it.

(v) 6“Do not deny anyone justice in his lawsuit simply because he is poor. 7Keep away from fraud, and do not cause the death of the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked. 8You are not to receive a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clearsighted and subverts the cause of the righteous.

9“You are not to oppress a foreigner, for you know how a foreigner feels, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

10“For six years, you are to sow your land with seed and gather in its harvest. 11But the seventh year, you are to let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people can eat; and what they leave, the wild animals in the countryside can eat. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

12“For six days, you are to work. But on the seventh day, you are to rest, so that your ox and donkey can rest, and your slave-girl’s son and the foreigner be renewed.

13“Pay attention to everything I have said to you; do not invoke the names of other gods or even let them be heard crossing your lips.

14“Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. 15Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts. 17Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, Adonai.

18“You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the fat of my festival to remain all night until morning.

19“You are to bring the best firstfruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young animal in its mother’s milk.

(vi) 20“I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21Pay attention to him, listen to what he says and do not rebel against him; because he will not forgive any wrongdoing of yours, since my name resides in him. 22But if you listen to what he says and do everything I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23When my angel goes ahead of you and brings you to the Emori, Hitti, P’rizi, Kena‘ani, Hivi and Y’vusi, I will make an end of them. 24You are not to worship their gods, serve them or follow their practices; rather, you are to demolish them completely and smash their standing-stones to pieces.

25“You are to serve Adonai your God; and he will bless your food and water. I will take sickness away from among you. (vii) 26In your land your women will not miscarry or be barren, and you will live out the full span of your lives. 27I will send terror of me ahead of you, throwing into confusion all the people to whom you come; and I will make all your enemies turn their backs on you. 28I will send hornets ahead of you to drive out the Hivi, Kena‘ani and Hitti from before you. 29I will not drive them out from before you in one year, which would cause the land to become desolate and the wild animals too many for you. 30I will drive them out from before you gradually, until you have grown in number and can take possession of the land. 31I will set your boundaries from the Sea of Suf to the sea of the P’lishtim and from the desert to the [Euphrates] River, for I will hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out from before you. 32You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33They are not to live in your land; otherwise they will make you sin against me by ensnaring you to serve their gods.”

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Sh'mot (Exo) 23: CJB

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