Exodus 23

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 'You will not spread false rumours. You wil not lend support to the wicked by giving untrue evidence.	1 Thou shalt not receive the voice of a lie: neither shalt thou join thy hand to bear false witness for a wicked person.
2 You will not be led into wrong-doing by the majority nor, when giving evidence in a lawsuit, side withthe majority to pervert the course of justice;	2 Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.
3 nor wil you show partiality to the poor in a lawsuit.	3 Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in judgment.
4 'If you come on your enemy's ox or donkey straying, you wil take it back to him.	4 If thou meet thy enemy's ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.
5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fal en under its load, do not stand back; you must goand help him with it.	5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him.
6 'You will not cheat the poor among you of their rights at law.	6 Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man's judgment.
7 Keep clear of fraud. Do not cause the death of the innocent or upright, and do not acquit the guilty.	7 Thou shalt fly lying. The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the wicked.
8 You will accept no bribes, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and is the ruin of the cause of the upright.	8 Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just.
9 'You will not oppress the alien; you know how an alien feels, for you yourselves were once aliens inEgypt.	9 Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.
10 'For six years you will sow your land and gather its produce,	10 Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.
11 but in the seventh year you will let it lie fal ow and forgo al produce from it, so that those of yourpeople who are poor can take food from it and the wild animals eat what they have left. You wil do the samewith your vineyard and your olive grove.	11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard.
12 'For six days you wil do your work, and on the seventh you will rest, so that your ox and your donkeymay rest and the child of your slave-girl have a breathing space, and the alien too.	12 Six days thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest: and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.
13 'Take notice of everything I have told you and do not mention the name of any other god: let noneever be heard from your lips.	13 Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of strange gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth.
14 'Three times a year you wil hold a festival in my honour.	14 Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.
15 You wil observe the feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you wil eat unleavened bread, as Ihave commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. Noone will appear before me empty-handed.	15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Egypt: thou shalt not appear empty before me.
16 You wil also observe the feast of Harvest, of the first-fruits of your labours in sowing the fields, andthe feast of Ingathering, at the end of the year, once you have brought the fruits of your labours in from the fields.	16 And the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of thy work, whatsoever thou hast sown in the field. The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field.
17 Three times a year al your menfolk will appear before Lord Yahweh.	17 Thrice a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.
18 'You wil not offer the blood of my victim with leavened bread, nor wil the fat of my feast be kept tilthe following day.	18 Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of my solemnity remain until the morning.
19 'You wil bring the best of the first-fruits of your soil to the house of Yahweh your God. 'You wil notboil a kid in its mother's milk.	19 Thou shalt carry the firstfruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.
20 'Look, I am sending an angel to precede you, to guard you as you go and bring you to the place that Ihave prepared.	20 Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.
21 Revere him and obey what he says. Do not defy him: he wil not forgive any wrong-doing on yourpart, for my name is in him.	21 Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him.
22 If, however, you obey what he says and do whatever I order, I shal be an enemy to your enemiesand a foe to your foes.	22 But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.
23 My angel wil precede you and lead you to the home of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, theCanaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, whom I shal exterminate.	23 And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, whom I will destroy.
24 You wil not bow down to their gods or worship them or observe their rites, but throw them down andsmash their cultic stones.	24 Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues.
25 You wil worship Yahweh your God, and then I shal bless your food and water, and keep you free ofsickness.	25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, that I may bless your bread and your waters, and may take away sickness from the midst of thee.
26 In your country no woman will miscarry, none be sterile, and I shall give you your ful term of life.	26 There shall not be one fruitless nor barren in thy land: I will fill the number of thy days.
27 'I shal send terror of myself ahead of you; I shal throw al the peoples you encounter into confusion,and make al your enemies take to their heels.	27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee.
28 I shal send hornets ahead of you to drive Hivite, Canaanite and Hittite out before you.	28 Sending out hornets before, that shall drive away the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, before thou come in.
29 I shal not drive them out ahead of you in a single year, or the land might become a desert where wildanimals would multiply to your cost.	29 I will not cast them out from thy face in one year: lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and the beasts multiply against thee.
30 I shal drive them out little by little before you, until your numbers grow sufficient for you to takepossession of the land.	30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land.
31 And your frontiers I shall fix from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desertto the River, for I shal put the inhabitants of the territory at your mercy, and you will drive them out before you.	31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you.
32 You wil make no pact with them or with their gods.	32 Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods.
33 They may not stay in your country or they might make you sin against me, for you would serve theirgods, and that would be a snare for you!'	33 Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps thy make thee sin against me, if thou serve their god: which undoubtedly will be a scandal to thee.