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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 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../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="../topmenuchap/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="../">NLT</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 class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/exodus/23.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">A Call for Justice</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“You must not pass along false rumors. You must not cooperate with evil people by lying on the witness stand.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>“In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“Be sure never to charge anyone falsely with evil. Never sentence an innocent or blameless person to death, for I never declare a guilty person to be innocent.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>“Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>“Plant and harvest your crops for six years, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for wild animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>“Pay close attention to all my instructions. You must not call on the name of any other gods. Do not even speak their names.</p><p class="hdg">Three Annual Festivals</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>“Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>First, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Celebrate this festival annually at the appointed time in early spring, in the month of Abib,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> for that is the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. No one may appear before me without an offering.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“Second, celebrate the Festival of Harvest,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> when you bring me the first crops of your harvest.</p><p class="reg">“Finally, celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> at the end of the harvest season, when you have harvested all the crops from your fields. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the LORD.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>“You must not offer the blood of my sacrificial offerings together with any baked goods containing yeast. And do not leave the fat from the festival offerings until the next morning.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD your God.</p><p class="reg">“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.</p><p class="hdg">A Promise of the LORD’s Presence</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>“See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Pay close attention to him, and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is my representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/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, so you may live there. And I will destroy them completely. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“You must serve only the LORD your God. If you do, I<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>“I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>I will send terror<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply and threaten you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>I will drive them out a little at a time until your population has increased enough to take possession of the land. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">f</span></a> and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">g</span></a> I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>“Make no treaties with them or their gods. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry.”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:15 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">appointed time in the month of Abib.</span><span class="ft"> This first month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar usually occurs within the months of March and April.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:16a </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">Festival of Weeks.</span><span class="ft"> This was later called the Festival of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1). It is celebrated today as Shavuot (or Shabuoth).</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:16b </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">Festival of Ingathering.</span><span class="ft"> This was later called the Festival of Shelters or Festival of Tabernacles (see Lev 23:33-36). It is celebrated today as Sukkot (or Succoth).</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:25 </span><span class="ft">As in Greek and Latin versions; Hebrew reads </span><span class="it">he.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:28 </span><span class="ft">Often rendered </span><span class="it">the hornet.</span><span class="ft"> The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.</span><br><span class="fn">f</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:31a </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">from the sea of reeds to the sea of the Philistines.</span><br><span class="fn">g</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:31b </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">from the wilderness to the river.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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