Shemot 23

1. Thou shalt not spread a false report; put not thine hand with the rashah to be an ed chamas (malicious witness).

2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a riv (cause, lawsuit) to turn aside after many to pervert justice;

3. Neither shalt thou favor a poor man in his riv (cause, lawsuit).

4. If thou meet thine enemy’s shor (ox) or his chamor (donkey) going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

5. If thou see the chamor of him that hateth thee lying under his massa, and wouldest refrain from helping him, thou shalt surely help with him.

6. Thou shalt not pervert the mishpat of thy poor in his riv (cause, lawsuit).

7. Keep thee far from a devar sheker (false matter); and the naki (innocent) and tzaddik slay thou not; for I will not acquit the rashah.

8. And thou shalt take no shochad (bribe, gift); for the shochad blindeth the seeing, and perverteth the words of the tzaddikim.

9. Also thou shalt not oppress a ger; for ye know the nefesh of a ger, seeing ye were gerim in Eretz Mitzrayim.

10. And shesh shanim thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the crops thereof;

11. But the shevi’it thou shalt leave it shamat (unplowed) and let it lie fallow; that the evyon (poor) of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the sadeh shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy kerem (vineyard), and with thy zayit (olive) grove.

12. Sheshet yamim thou shalt do thy work, and on the yom hashevi’i thou shalt rest; that thine shor (ox) and thine chamor (donkey) may rest, and the ben of thy amah (handmaid), and the ger, may be refreshed.

13. And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect; and make no mention of the shem elohim acherim, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

14. Three times thou shalt keep a Chag unto Me in the shanah.

15. Thou shalt be shomer to keep the Chag HaMatzot; thou shalt eat matzot shivah yamim, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Aviv; for in it thou camest out from Mitzrayim; and none shall appear before Me empty-handed;

16. And the Chag HaKatzir, Bikkurim (Firstfruits [see Ac chp 2]) of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the sadeh; and the Chag HaAsif (Feast of Ingathering [see Yn chp 7]), which is in the end of the shanah, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the sadeh.

17. Shalosh pa’amim in the shanah all thy zachar shall appear before HaAdon Hashem.

18. Thou shalt not offer the dahm of My zevach with chametz; neither shall the chelev of My sacrifice remain until the boker.

19. The reshit bikkurim of thy land thou shalt bring into the Bais Hashem Eloheicha [see Ac chp 2]. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother’s cholov.

20. Hinei, I send Malach before thee, to be shomer over thee in the derech, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

21. Pay heed to him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your peysha’im; for My Shem is in him.

22. But if thou shalt indeed obey his [bat] kol, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

23. For My Malach shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Emori, and the Chitti, and the Perizzi, and the Kena’ani, the Chivi, and the Yevusi; I will cut them off.

24. Thou shalt not bow down to their elohim, nor serve them, nor follow after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and completely break down their matztzvot (memorial columns dedicated to idols).

25. And ye shall serve Hashem Eloheichem, and He shall bless thy lechem, and thy mayim; and I will take machalah (sickness) away from the midst of thee.

26. There shall nothing miscarry their young, nor be barren, in thy land; the mispar (number) of thy yamim I will fulfill.

27. I will send My ehmah (terror) ahead of thee, and will throw into confusion all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

28. And I will send the tzirah (hornet) ahead of thee, which shall drive out the Chivi, the Kena’ani, and the Chitti, from before thee.

29. I will not drive them out from before thee in shanah echat; lest ha’aretz become desolate, and the beast of the sadeh multiply against thee.

30. Me’at me’at (little by little) I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit ha’aretz.

31. And I will establish thy borders from the Yam Suf even unto the Yam Pelishtim, and from the Midbar unto the [Euphrates] River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of ha’aretz into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

32. Thou shalt make no brit (covenant) with them, nor with their elohim.

33. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against Me; for if thou serve their elohim, it will surely be a mokesh (snare) unto thee.