Truth and Fair Witness
23 1 Don't spread a false report or join hands with the wicked as a malicious witness.
2 Do not follow a majority to do wrong, or testify in a dispute siding with a majority to pervert justice. 3 and do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit.
4 If you find your enemy's ox or his donkey straying, surely return it to him. 5 If you see your enemy's donkey collapsed under its load, don't leave it—help him free it.
6 Do not deny justice to your poor in their lawsuits. 7 Keep far from false charges; do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I won't acquit the guilty.
8 Take no bribe—it blinds the clear-sighted and twists the words of the righteous.
9 Do not oppress a foreigner — you know a foreigner's heart, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Rest for the Land
10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce, 11 But the seventh year, release it and leave it unplowed, so the poor of your people may eat; what remains, wild animals may eat. Do the same for your vineyard and olive grove.
12 Work six days; rest the seventh, so your ox and donkey may rest, and your slave woman's son and the foreigner may catch their breath.
13 Be on guard for all I have said to you. Do not mention other gods' names; let them not be heard on your lips.
Three Festivals Before Your Father
14 Three times a year you shall hold a festival to me. 15 Keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread: eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded, at the set time in the month of Abib—for then you left Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed. a a v15 Aviv is the spring month when the grain ripens — later called Nisan. Israel came out of Egypt in this month. 16 Keep the Harvest Festival — firstfruits of your produce sown in the field — and the Ingathering Festival at the year's end, when you gather your produce from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign Father.
18 Don't offer my sacrifice's blood with anything leavened, or leave the fat of my festival offering till morning.
19 Bring the best of your soil's firstfruits to your Father's house. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.
The Messenger Sent Ahead
20 See, I send a messenger before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Be on guard before him and obey his voice. Do not defy him — he won't forgive your rebellion, for my name is within him. b b v21 'My name is in him' means the messenger carries God's full authority and presence. 22 But if you truly listen to his voice and do all I say, I will be enemy to your enemies, adversary to your foes. 23 My messenger will go ahead of you, bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow to their gods, serve them, or follow their practices. Tear them down completely and smash their sacred pillars to pieces. 25 You shall serve your Father, and he will bless your bread and your water; I will remove sickness from among you. 26 None will miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fill your days. 27 I will send my terror ahead of you, confuse every nation you meet, and make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you, driving out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites before you. c c v28 'The hornet' may mean literal hornets or the dread and confusion God sends ahead of Israel. 29 I won't drive them out before you in one year, or the land will become desolate and wild animals will multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you multiply and possess the land. 31 I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Philistine Sea, and from the wilderness to the River, for I will hand the land's people to you, and you will drive them out before you. d d v31 "Red Sea" renders Hebrew Yam Suf ("Sea of Reeds"); "Sea of the Philistines" = the Mediterranean; "the River" = the Euphrates. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 They must not live in your land, or they will make you sin against me — if you serve their gods, it will surely trap you.
