Exodus 23

Laws About Social Justice

1 d "You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a e malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 f nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

4 g "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

6 h "You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 d Keep far from a false charge, and i do not kill the innocent and righteous, for j I will not acquit the wicked. 8 k And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

9 l "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

10 m "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

12 n "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

13 o "Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

14 p "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 q You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of r Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. s None shall appear before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep t the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the u Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 p Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.

18 v "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

19 "The best of the w firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. x "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Conquest of Canaan Promised

20 y "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; z do not rebel against him, a for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 "But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then b I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 y "When my angel goes before you and brings you c to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall d not bow down to their gods nor serve them, e nor do as they do, but f you shall utterly overthrow them and break their g pillars in pieces. 25 You h shall serve the Lord your God, and i he 1 will bless your bread and your water, and j I will take sickness away from among you. 26 k None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the l number of your days. 27 I will send m my terror before you and will throw into n confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And o I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 p I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 q And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for r I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 s You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, t it will surely be a snare to you."

  1. Cross References
    Leviticus 19:11
    You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.
    Psalms 15:3
    Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend.
    Psalms 101:5
    Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.
  2. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 19:16 - 18
    If a malicious witness arises to accuse a perso...
    Psalms 35:11
    Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of thi...
    1 Kings 21:10
    And set two worthless men opposite him, and let...
    1 Kings 21:13
    And the two worthless men came in and sat oppos...
    Matthew 26:59 - 61
    Now the chief priests and the whole Council wer...
    Acts 6:11
    Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We...
    Acts 6:13
    And they set up false witnesses who said, "This...
  3. Cross References
    Leviticus 19:15
    You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
    Deuteronomy 1:17
    You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.
  4. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 22:1
    You shall not see your brother's ox or his shee...
    Deuteronomy 22:4
    You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ...
    Proverbs 25:21
    If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,...
    Matthew 5:44
    But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray fo...
    Romans 12:20
    To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed...
    1 Thessalonians 5:15
    See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, bu...
  5. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 27:19
    "'Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
    Ecclesiastes 5:8
    If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.
    Isaiah 10:1 - 2
    Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression.
    Jeremiah 5:28 - 29
    They have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
    Malachi 3:5
    Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
  6. Cross References
    Exodus 23:1
    You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
  7. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 27:25
    "'Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
    Proverbs 17:26
    To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
  8. Cross References
    Exodus 34:7
    Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.
  9. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 16:19
    You shall not pervert justice. You shall not sh...
    1 Samuel 8:3
    Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turne...
    2 Chronicles 19:7
    Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you....
    Psalms 26:10
    In whose hands are evil devices, and whose righ...
    Proverbs 17:23
    The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert...
    Isaiah 1:23
    Your princes are rebels and companions of thiev...
    Isaiah 5:23
    Who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive ...
    Isaiah 33:15
    He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, ...
  10. Cross References
    Exodus 22:21
    You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
  11. Cross References
    Leviticus 25:3 - 4
    For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits.
  12. Cross References
    Exodus 20:9
    Six days you shall labor, and do all your work.
  13. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 4:9
    Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children -
    Joshua 22:5
    Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
    Joshua 23:7
    That you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.
    Hosea 2:17
    For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.
    Zechariah 13:2
    And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.
  14. Cross References
    Exodus 23:17
    Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.
    Exodus 34:23
    Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.
    Deuteronomy 16:16
    Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
  15. Cross References
    Exodus 12:15
    Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 13:4
    Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
  17. Cross References
    Exodus 34:20
    The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.
    Deuteronomy 16:16
    Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
  18. Cross References
    Exodus 34:22
    You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.
    Leviticus 23:9 - 21
    And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying.
  19. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 16:13
    You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.
    Leviticus 23:34 - 44
    Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.
  20. Cross References
    Exodus 23:14
    Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.
  21. Cross References
    Exodus 12:8
    They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
    Exodus 34:25
    You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.
    Leviticus 2:11
    No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord.
  22. Cross References
    Exodus 34:26
    The best of the firstfruits of your ground you ...
    Leviticus 2:12
    As an offering of firstfruits you may bring the...
    Leviticus 23:10
    Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ...
    Leviticus 23:17
    You shall bring from your dwelling places two l...
    Numbers 18:12 - 13
    All the best of the oil and all the best of the...
    Deuteronomy 26:2
    You shall take some of the first of all the fru...
    Deuteronomy 26:10
    And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit ...
    Nehemiah 10:35
    We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits ...
    Ezekiel 44:30
    And the first of all the firstfruits of all kin...
  23. Cross References
    Exodus 34:26
    The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
    Deuteronomy 14:21
    You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
  24. Cross References
    Exodus 14:19
    Then the angel of God who was going before the ...
    Exodus 33:2
    I will send an angel before you, and I will dri...
    Exodus 33:14
    And he said, "My presence will go with you, and...
    Joshua 5:13 - 14
    When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his ey...
    Joshua 6:2
    And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given...
    Isaiah 63:9
    In all their affliction he was afflicted, and t...
  25. Cross References
    Psalms 78:40
    How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
    Psalms 78:56
    Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies.
  26. Cross References
    Exodus 32:34
    But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.
    Exodus 34:7
    Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.
    Numbers 14:35
    I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.
    Joshua 24:19
    But Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.
  27. Cross References
    Genesis 12:3
    I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
    Deuteronomy 30:7
    And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you.
    Jeremiah 30:20
    Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them.
  28. Cross References
    Exodus 23:20
    Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.
  29. Cross References
    Exodus 13:5
    And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.
  30. Cross References
    Exodus 20:5
    You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
  31. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:3
    You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.
    Deuteronomy 12:30 - 31
    Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? - that I also may do the same.
  32. Cross References
    Exodus 34:13
    You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim
    Numbers 33:52
    Then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.
    Deuteronomy 7:5
    But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.
    Deuteronomy 7:25
    The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.
    Deuteronomy 12:3
    You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.
  33. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 16:22
    And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
  34. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 6:13
    It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you...
    Deuteronomy 10:12
    And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God re...
    Deuteronomy 10:20
    You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall ser...
    Deuteronomy 11:13
    And if you will indeed obey my commandments tha...
    Deuteronomy 13:4
    You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear...
    Joshua 22:5
    Only be very careful to observe the commandment...
    Matthew 4:10
    Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it...
  35. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:13
    He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
    Deuteronomy 28:5
    Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
    Deuteronomy 28:8
    The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
  36. Cross References
    Exodus 15:26
    Saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.
    Deuteronomy 7:15
    And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.
  37. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:14
    You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock.
  38. Cross References
    Job 5:26
    You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
    Psalms 55:23
    But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.
  39. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 2:25
    This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.
    Joshua 2:9
    And said to the men, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
  40. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:23
    But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
  41. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:20
    Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed.
    Joshua 24:12
    And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.
  42. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:22
    The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.
  43. Cross References
    Genesis 15:18
    On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram...
    Numbers 34:3
    Your south side shall be from the wilderness of...
    Deuteronomy 11:24
    Every place on which the sole of your foot trea...
    Joshua 1:4
    From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as ...
    1 Kings 4:21
    Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Eu...
    1 Kings 4:24
    For he had dominion over all the region west of...
    Psalms 72:8
    May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from ...
  44. Cross References
    Joshua 21:44
    And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands.
    Judges 1:4
    Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.
    Judges 11:21
    And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.
  45. Cross References
    Exodus 34:12
    Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.
    Exodus 34:15
    Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice.
    Deuteronomy 7:2
    And when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
  46. Cross References
    Exodus 34:12
    Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.
    Deuteronomy 7:16
    And you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
    Joshua 23:13
    Know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
    Judges 2:3
    So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.
    Psalms 106:36
    They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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