False Reports, Bribes & Justice |
Exodus 23:1-33 The Second Book of Moses Called Exodus |
You shall not [spread] false reports. Don’t [join] with the wicked to be a unrighteous witness. [Psalm 35:11 false witnesses did rest up & they [charged Me with things I [didn’t] know [about.] You shall not follow a [crowd] to do evil, [neither] shall you [falsely testify] in a [dispute to pervert] justice. You shall not show [preference] to a poor man in his [dispute, but should always be fair.] |
If you [come across] your enemy’s [stray] ox or [donkey,] you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the [donkey] of [someone who] hates you [fallen down under its load] & you shall surely help him & [not turn away.] You shall not [twist] the judgment of the poor in his [dispute.] |
Keep [yourselves] far from a false matter & do not kill the innocent & righteous, for I will not justify the wicked. Do not take [bribes,] because a bribe [blinds] the wise & perverts the words of the righteous. |
Also, you shall not oppress a stranger, [because] you were strangers in the land of Egypt & [know what it’s like.] 6 years you shall [seed] your land & gather its [produce,] but the 7th year, you shall let it rest & lie [fallow,] [so] that the poor of your people may eat & the beasts of the field may eat what the [poor] leave. |
[This shall also be done] in your vineyard & olive [groves.] 6 days you shall do your work & on the 7th day you shall rest, [so] that your ox & [donkey] may rest & the son of your handmaid & the stranger, may be refreshed. |
In all things I have told you, be [cautious] not to mention the name of other gods, neither let it be heard [coming] out of your mouth. 3 times a year, you shall keep a feast to Me. |
You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread & (you shall eat unleavened bread 7 days, as I commanded you, in the appointed time in the month, Abib, [because that’s when] you came out of Egypt & none shall appear before Me empty [handed].) [Leviticus 2:11 No [meat/grain] offering, [that] you shall bring to the Lord, shall be made with leaven: for you shall burn no leaven [yeast,] nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire.] |
[Also,] the Feast of Harvest, [of] the first fruits of your labors, which you [have] sown in the field & the Feast of Ingathering, at the end of the year, when you [have] gathered in [the fruits] of your labors out of the field. 3 times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord God. |
You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning. The first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God & you shall not [boil] a kid [goat] in its mother’s milk. |
[Look,] I send an Angel [who will go] before you [in the journey] to keep you in the [road] & to bring you into the place I have prepared. Beware of Him & obey His voice & don’t provoke Him, for He won’t pardon your transgressions, [because] My name is in Him. |
But if you shall indeed obey His voice & do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies & an adversary to your adversaries. My Angel shall go before you & bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites & Jebusites, and I will cut them off. |
You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them or do their works, but you shall utterly overthrow them & break down their images. |
[So,] you shall serve the Lord your God & He shall bless your bread & water & I will take sickness from the midst of you, nor will [any one or animal suffer miscarriage] or be barren in your land & I will fulfill the number of your days. |
I will send the fear of My fear before you & I will destroy all the people to whom you come [with confusion] & your enemies will turn their backs & run. I will send hornets before you & drive out the Hivite, Canaanite & Hittite from before you. |
I won’t drive them out in 1 year, lest the land become desolate & the beasts of the field [become too numerous] against you. Little by little, I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased & you inherit the land. |
And I will set your [boundaries] from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, & from the desert to the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand & you shall drive them out before you. |
You shall make no covenant [contract] with them, nor their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you. |