Exodus 23

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 'You will not spread false rumours. You wil not lend support to the wicked by giving untrue evidence.	1 “You shall not accept a lying voice. Neither shall you join your hand so as to give false testimony on behalf on the impious.
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 You shall not follow the crowd in doing evil. Neither shall you go astray in judgment, by agreeing with the majority opinion, apart from the truth.
3 nor wil you show partiality to the poor in a lawsuit.	3 Likewise, you shall not show pity in judgment of the poor.
4 'If you come on your enemy's ox or donkey straying, you wil take it back to him.	4 If you come across an ox or a donkey of your enemy, which has gone astray, lead 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 you see the donkey of one who hates you, fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by without lifting it up with him.
6 'You will not cheat the poor among you of their rights at law.	6 You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.
7 Keep clear of fraud. Do not cause the death of the innocent or upright, and do not acquit the guilty.	7 You shall flee from lies. The innocent and the just you shall not kill. For I shun the impious.
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 shall you accept bribes, which blind even the prudent and subvert 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 You shall not harass a sojourner, for you know the life of a newcomer. For you yourselves also were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
10 'For six years you will sow your land and gather its produce,	10 For six years, you shall sow your land and gather its produce.
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 in the seventh year, you shall release it and cause it to rest, so that the poor of your people may eat. And whatever remains, let the beasts of the field eat it. So shall you do with your vineyard and your olive grove.
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 For six days, you shall work. On the seventh day, you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the newcomer and the son of your handmaid 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 Preserve all that I have said to you. And by the names of foreign gods you shall not swear; neither shall these be heard from your mouth.
14 'Three times a year you wil hold a festival in my honour.	14 Three times in each 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 You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, at the time of the month of new grain, when you departed from Egypt. You shall not appear empty-handed in my sight,
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 for it is the solemnity of the harvest of the first-fruits of your work, of whatever you have sown in the field. Likewise, it is a solemnity at the end of the season, when you will have gathered in all your crops from the field.
17 Three times a year al your menfolk will appear before Lord Yahweh.	17 Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your 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 You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until 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 You shall carry the first grain of the land to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not cook a young goat in the milk of its mother.
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 will go before you, and preserve you on your journey, and lead you 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 Heed him, and hear his voice, and do not hold him in disregard. For he will not release you when you have 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 you listen to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will afflict those who afflict you.
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 will go before you, and he will bring you to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, whom I will crush.
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 You shall not adore their gods, nor worship them. You shall not do their works, but you shall destroy them and break apart 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, so that I may bless your bread and your waters, and so that I may take away sickness from your midst.
26 In your country no woman will miscarry, none be sterile, and I shall give you your ful term of life.	26 There will not be fruitless or barren ones in your land. I will fill up the number of your 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 terror to run ahead of you, and I will kill all the people to whom you will enter. And I will turn the backs of all your enemies before you,
28 I shal send hornets ahead of you to drive Hivite, Canaanite and Hittite out before you.	28 sending wasps ahead, so that they will put to flight the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, before you enter.
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 your face in one year, lest the land be reduced to a wilderness and the wild beasts increase against you.
30 I shal drive them out little by little before you, until your numbers grow sufficient for you to takepossession of the land.	30 I will expel them little by little from your sight, until you have expanded and may 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 Then I will set your limits to be from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Palestinians, and from the desert all the way to the river. I will deliver into your hands the inhabitants of the land, and I will cast them out from your sight.
32 You wil make no pact with them or with their gods.	32 You shall not enter into a pact 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 They may not live on your land, lest perhaps they may cause you to sin against me, if you serve their gods, which certainly would be a temptation for you.”