ExodusChapter 23

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¹"You must not spread a false report. Do not team up with wicked people by being a witness who lies to hurt someone. ²You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you speak as a witness in a court case, do not twist justice by siding with the crowd. ³And do not show favor to a poor man in his court case. ⁴If you find your enemy's ox or donkey wandering away, you must take it back to him. ⁵If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there. You must help him with it. ⁶You must not deny justice to poor people in their court cases. ⁷Stay far away from a false charge. Do not put to death those who are innocent or who do what is right. For I will not let the guilty go free. ⁸Do not take a bribe. A bribe blinds people who can see. It twists the words of those who do what is right. ⁹Do not mistreat a foreigner living among you, since you know how it feels to be a foreigner. For you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. ¹⁰For six years you are to plant your land and gather its crops. ¹¹But in the seventh year you must let the land rest and leave it unplanted. This is so that the poor among your people may eat from the field, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. ¹²For six days you are to do your work. But on the seventh day you must stop. This is so that your ox and your donkey may rest. And the son of your female servant may be refreshed, and the foreigner living with you too. ¹³Pay close attention to everything I have told you. You must not call on the names of other gods. Their names must not be heard on your lips. ¹⁴Three times a year you are to hold a feast to honor me. ¹⁵You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you. At the set time in the month of Abib, you are to eat bread made without yeast for seven days. Do this because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may come before me with empty hands. ¹⁶You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest. Bring the firstfruits of the crops you plant in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your crops from the field. ¹⁷Three times a year all your males are to come before the Lord GOD. ¹⁸You must not offer the blood of my sacrifices with anything that has yeast in it. And the fat from my feast must not be left until morning. ¹⁹Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk. ²⁰Look, I am sending an angel ahead of you. He will guard you along the way. He will bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹Pay attention to him and listen to his voice. Do not rebel against him. For he will not forgive your rebellion, because my Name is in him. ²²But if you listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight against those who fight against you. ²³For my angel will go ahead of you. He will bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And I will wipe them out. ²⁴You must not bow down to their gods or serve them. Do not follow their ways. Instead, you are to tear their gods down. Smash their sacred stones to pieces. ²⁵So you must serve the LORD your God. He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from among you. ²⁶No woman in your land will lose her baby before it is born or be unable to have children. I will give you a full number of days. ²⁷I will send my terror ahead of you. I will throw every nation you meet into confusion. I will make all your enemies turn and run. ²⁸I will send the hornet ahead of you. It will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way.a ²⁹I will not drive them out ahead of you in just one year. If I did, the land would become empty and wild. Wild animals would grow in number and attack you. ³⁰Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you. I will do this until you grow in number and take over the land. ³¹I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines. They will reach from the desert to the Euphrates River. For I will hand the people who live there over to you. And you will drive them out ahead of you. ³²You must make no covenant with them or with their gods. ³³They must not stay in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a trap for you."