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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Exodus 23</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/bsb/spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/23.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmc//exodus/23-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/exodus/">Exodus</a> > Exodus 23</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/22.htm" title="Exodus 22">◄</a> Exodus 23 <a href="../exodus/24.htm" title="Exodus 24">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div align="center" id="jump2"><a href="/niv/exodus/23.htm">NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/exodus/23.htm">NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/exodus/23.htm">ESV</a> • <a href="/kjv/exodus/23.htm">KJV</a> • <a href="/nkjv/exodus/23.htm">NKJ</a> • <a href="/nasb/exodus/23.htm">NAS</a></div><br /><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="1%" valign="top">BSB</td><td width="99%" valign="top" align="right"><a href="/parallel/exodus/23.htm" style="font-weight:normal" title="Parallel Chapters">Parallel Chapters ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a><p class="hdg">Justice and Mercy<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. <A name="3"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. <A name="4"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. <A name="5"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. <A name="6"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it. <A name="7"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. <A name="8"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty. <A name="9"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. <A name="10"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. <A name="11"></a><p class="hdg">Sabbath Laws<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../leviticus/25.htm">Leviticus 25:1–7</a>; <a href ="../deuteronomy/15.htm">Deuteronomy 15:1–6</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, <A name="12"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove. <A name="13"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident. <A name="14"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips. <A name="15"></a><p class="hdg">The Three Feasts of Pilgrimage<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../leviticus/23.htm">Leviticus 23:1–3</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. <A name="16"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">a</a></span> as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">b</a></span> you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed. <A name="17"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">c</a></span> with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. <p class="reg"> And keep the Feast of Ingathering<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">d</a></span> at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. <A name="18"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD. <A name="19"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning. <A name="20"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. <p class="reg"> You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. <A name="21"></a><p class="hdg">God’s Angel to Lead<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../deuteronomy/7.htm#12">Deuteronomy 7:12–26</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. <A name="22"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him. <A name="23"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. <A name="24"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them. <A name="25"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces. <A name="26"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">e</a></span> your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you. <A name="27"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days. <A name="28"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run. <A name="29"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. <A name="30"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you. <A name="31"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land. <A name="32"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">f</a></span> to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates.<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">g</a></span> For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. <A name="33"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. <span class="reftext"><a href="/exodus/23-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”</p><A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:</b><br><br><span class="fnverse">15</span> <span class="footnotesbot">a</span> That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven may be eaten; see <a href="../exodus/12.htm#14">Exodus 12:14–20</a>.<br><span class="fnverse">15</span> <span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <i>Abib</i><span class="thin"> </span> was the first month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of March and April.<br><span class="fnverse">16</span> <span class="footnotesbot">c</span> That is, Shavuot, the late spring feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; it is also known as <i>the Feast of Weeks</i><span class="thin"> </span> (see <a href="../exodus/34.htm#22">Exodus 34:22</a>) or <i>the Feast of Pentecost</i><span class="thin"> </span> (see <a href="../acts/2.htm">Acts 2:1</a>).<br><span class="fnverse">16</span> <span class="footnotesbot">d</span> That is, Sukkot, the autumn feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; it is later called <i>the Feast of Tabernacles</i><span class="thin"> </span> (or <i>Booths</i><span class="thin"> </span> or <i>Shelters</i><span class="thin"> </span>).<br><span class="fnverse">25</span> <span class="footnotesbot">e</span> LXX and Vulgate <i>I will bless</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">31</span> <span class="footnotesbot">f</span> Or <i>the Sea of Reeds</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">31</span> <span class="footnotesbot">g</span> Hebrew <i>the River</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><br /></div><br /></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Berean Bible (<a href=http://berean.bible>www.Berean.Bible</a>) <a href=http://bereanbible.com>Berean Study Bible (BSB)</a> © 2016, 2020 by <a href=http://biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible>Berean.Bible</a>. 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