Exodus 23

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "You shall not repeat a false report. Do not join the wicked in putting your hand, as an unjust witness, upon anyone.	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 Neither shall you allege the example of the many as an excuse for doing wrong, nor shall you, when testifying in a lawsuit, side with the many in perverting 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 You shall not favor a poor man in his lawsuit.	3 Likewise, you shall not show pity in judgment of the poor.
4 "When you come upon your enemy's ox or ass going astray, see to it that it is returned 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 When you notice the ass of one who hates you lying prostrate under its burden, by no means desert him; help him, rather, to raise it up.	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 shall not deny one of your needy fellow men his rights in his lawsuit.	6 You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.
7 You shall keep away from anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death, nor shall you acquit the guilty.	7 You shall flee from lies. The innocent and the just you shall not kill. For I shun the impious.
8 Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds even the most clear-sighted and twists the words even of the just.	8 Neither shall you accept bribes, which blind even the prudent and subvert the words of the just.
9 You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.	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 may sow your land and gather in its produce.	10 For six years, you shall sow your land and gather its produce.
11 But the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and unharvested, that the poor among you may eat of it and the beasts of the field may eat what the poor leave. So also shall you do in regard to 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 may do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest, that your ox and your ass may also have rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the alien may be refreshed.	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 Give heed to all that I have told you. "Never mention the name of any other god; it shall not 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 shall celebrate a pilgrim feast to me.	14 Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me.
15 You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the prescribed time in the month of Abib, for it was then that you came out of Egypt. No one shall 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 shall also keep the feast of the grain harvest with the first of the crop that you have sown in the field; and finally, the feast at the fruit harvest at the end of the year, when you gather in the produce 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 Thrice a year shall all your men appear before the Lord GOD.	17 Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God.
18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of my feast be kept overnight till the next day.	18 You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until morning.
19 The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD, your God. "You shall not boil 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 "See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have 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 Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides 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 you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and 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 will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out.	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 Therefore, you shall not bow down in worship before their gods, nor shall you make anything like them; rather, you must demolish them and smash their sacred pillars.	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 The LORD, your God, you shall worship; then I will bless your food and drink, and I will remove all sickness from your midst;	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 no woman in your land will be barren or miscarry; and I will give you a full span 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 will have the fear of me precede you, so that I will throw into panic every nation you reach. I will make all your enemies turn from you in flight,	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 and ahead of you I will send hornets to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.	28 sending wasps ahead, so that they will put to flight the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, before you enter.
29 But not in one year will I drive them all out before you; else the land will become so desolate that the wild beasts will multiply against you.	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 Instead, I will drive them out little by little before you, until you have grown numerous enough to take possession of the land.	30 I will expel them little by little from your sight, until you have expanded and may possess the land.
31 I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River; all who dwell in this land I will hand over to you to be driven out of your way.	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 shall not make a covenant with them or their gods.	32 You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor with their gods.
33 They must not abide in your land, lest they make you sin against me by ensnaring you into worshiping their gods."	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.”