Chapter 23
1 Thou shalt not utter a false report; put not thy hand with
the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt
thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice;
3 neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.
4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou
shalt surely bring it back to him again.
5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under its
burden, thou shalt forbear to pass by him; thou shalt surely release it with
him.
6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and
righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked.
8 And thou shalt take no gift; for a gift blindeth them that
have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 And a stranger shalt thou not oppress; for ye know the
heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
10
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather in the increase thereof;
11 but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie
fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beast of
the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with
thy oliveyard.
12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, but on the seventh day
thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may have rest, and the son of thy
handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
13 And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed;
and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of
thy mouth.
14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.
15 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep; seven days
thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in
the month Abib--for in it thou camest out from Egypt; and none shall appear
before Me empty;
16 and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours,
which thou sowest in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the
year, when thou gatherest in thy labours out of the field.
17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before
the L-rd GOD.
18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with
leavened bread; neither shall the fat of My feast remain all night until the
morning.
19 The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring
into the house of HaShem thy G-d. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's
milk.
20 Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by
the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 Take heed of him, and hearken unto his voice; be not
rebellious against him; for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name
is in him.
22 But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do
all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary
unto thine adversaries.
23 For Mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in
unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the
Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.
24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor
do after their doings; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break in
pieces their pillars.
25 And ye shall serve HaShem your G-d, and He will bless thy
bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 None shall miscarry, nor be barren, in thy land; the
number of thy days I will fulfil.
27 I will send My terror before thee, and will discomfit all
the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their
backs unto thee.
28 And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive
out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year,
lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against
thee.
30 By little and little I will drive them out from before
thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31 And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even unto the
sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River; for I will
deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them
out before thee.
32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their
gods.
33 They shall not dwell in thy land--lest they make thee sin
against Me, for thou wilt serve their gods--for they will be a snare unto thee.
Sources: Portions copyright © 1997 by Benyamin Pilant, All Rights Reserved
JPS Electronic Edition, based on the 1917 JPS translation, Copyright © 1998 by Larry Nelson, All Rights Reserved
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