Exodus 23:1–33

¹ “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. ² You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. ³ And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. ⁴ If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. ⁵ If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it. ⁶ You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. ⁷ Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty. ⁸ Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. ⁹ Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, ¹¹ but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove. ¹² For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident. ¹³ Pay close 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. ¹⁴ Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. ¹⁵ You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed. ¹⁶ You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. ¹⁷ Three 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, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning. ¹⁹ Bring 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. ²⁰ Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹ Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him. ²² But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do… ²³ …