Exodus Chapter 23

                  ¹ “Don’t pass on false rumors, join sinners in giving malicious testimony, ² or follow the crowd in doing something bad. In a dispute, don’t join other people to pervert justice. ³ Don’t be partial toward a poor person in a dispute.

⁴ “If you run onto your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering around, return it. ⁵ If you see a donkey that belongs to someone that hates you lying helpless under its load, free it.

Ex 23:1-5

                           ⁶ “Don’t pervert justice for your needy neighbor in a dispute.

                  ⁷ “Avoid making false charges. Don’t execute an innocent or good person. I won’t acquit you.

                  ⁸“Don’t take a bribe; it blinds the clear-sighted and undercuts what good people are trying to do.

                  ⁹“Don’t oppress a foreigner; you know what it’s like to be one; you were foreigners in Egypt.

Laws About Sabbaths and Festivals

                  ¹⁰“Plant and harvest your ground for six years. ¹¹ Let it lie fallow the seventh year so the needy among your people can eat what grows volunteer. Whatever they leave, the wild animals can have. Do the same thing with your vineyard and olive trees.

                  ¹²“Work six days. On the seventh, stop working so your ox and donkey can rest, so the son of your female slave and the foreigner that’s with you can refresh themselves. ¹³ Pay attention to everything I’ve told you.

“Don’t even say the names of other gods.                                    

Ex 23:6-13

                  ¹⁴“Celebrate three festivals to me each year. ¹⁵ Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Eat bread without yeast for a week at the scheduled time in the month Abib, the month you came out of Egypt. Nobody is to come to me empty-handed. ¹⁶ Observe the Festival of the Harvest, the first part of the harvest from what you sow. Observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year at harvest time. ¹⁷ Three times a year all males are to appear in front of the Lord GOD.

                  ¹⁸“Don’t offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast. The fat from my feast is not to remain till morning. ¹⁹ Bring the best of the first harvest from your ground to the house of the LORD your God.

“Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.                                        

Ex 23:14-19

Conquest of Canaan Promised

²⁰ “I’ll send an angel to take you safely to the place I’ve designated. ²¹ Be sure to obey him. He won’t pardon your sins because he wears my name. ²² If you sincerely obey him in everything I say, I’ll be an enemy to your enemies, an adversary to your adversaries. ²³ My angel will take you to the Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Canaanite, Hivite, and Jebusite; and I’ll destroy them.          

Ex 23:20-23

                  ²⁴“Don’t worship and serve other gods or do what they do. Overthrow them completely and break their sacred pillars to pieces. ²⁵ Serve the LORD your God, and he’ll bless your bread and water, and keep you from getting sick. ²⁶ There won’t be any miscarriages or barrenness in your country, and you’ll have long lives. ²⁷ I’ll spread fear in front of you, and throw into confusion the people you invade, and make your enemies flee. ²⁸ I’ll send hornets ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. ²⁹ I won’t drive them out in a single year; the land would grow wild and wild animals would take over. ³⁰ I’ll drive them out little by little till you gain possession of it all and make it productive.

³¹ “I’ll set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea beside the Philistines, from the desert to the River Euphrates. I’ll deliver the people to you to drive out. ³² Don’t make any treaty with them or their gods. ³³ Don’t let them live in your country and end up making you sin against me. If you serve their gods, they’ll be a snare to you.”

Ex 23:24-33