Êxodo 23

¹ Thou shalt not receiue a false tale, neyther shalt thou put thine hande with the wicked, to be a false witnes.

² Thou shalt not follow a multitude to [do] evil; neither shalt thou speak in a causeDo that which is godly, though few favour it.to decline after many to wrest [judgment]:

³ Thou shalt not esteeme a poore man in his cause.

⁴ If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surelyIf we are bound to do good to our enemies beast, how much more to our enemy himself, (Mat_5:44).bring it back to him again.

⁵ If thou see theIf God commands us to help our enemy's donkey under his burden, will he suffer us to cast down our brethren with heavy burdens?ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

⁶ Thou shalt not ouerthrowe the right of thy poore in his sute.

⁷ Keep thee far from a false matter; and theWhether you are the magistrate or are commanded by the magistrate.innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

⁸ Thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and peruerteth the wordes of the righteous.

⁹ Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know theFor since he is a stranger, his heart is sorrowful enough.heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ Moreouer, sixe yeres thou shalt sowe thy land, and gather the fruites thereof,

¹¹ But the seuenth yeere thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poore of thy people may eat, and what they leaue, the beastes of the fielde shal eate. In like maner thou shalt doe with thy vineyard, and with thine oliue trees.

¹² Sixe dayes thou shalt do thy worke, and in the seuenth day thou shalt rest, that thine oxe, and thine asse may rest, and the sonne of thy maide and the stranger may be refreshed.

¹³ And in all [things] that I have said unto you be circumspect: and makeNeither by swearing by them, nor speaking of them, (Psa_16:4; Eph_5:3).no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

¹⁴ Three times thou shalt keepe a feast vnto me in the yeere.

¹⁵ Thou shalt keep the feast ofThat is, Easter, in remembrance that the angel passed over and spared the Israelites, when he slew the first born of the Egyptians.unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

¹⁶ And theWhich is Whit Sunday, in token that the law was given 50 days after they departed from Egypt.feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and theThis is the feast of tabernacles, signifying that they lived for 40 years in the tents or the tabernacles in the wilderness.feast of ingathering, [which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

¹⁷ These three times in the yeere shall all thy men children appeare before the Lord Iehouah.

¹⁸ Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice withNo leavened bread will be in your house.leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

¹⁹ The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in hisMeaning, that no fruit should be taken before just time: and by this all cruel and wanton appetites are controlled.mother's milk.

²⁰ Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keepe thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place which I haue prepared.

²¹ Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for myI will give him my authority, and he will govern you in my name.name [is] in him.

²² But if thou hearken vnto his voyce, & do all that I speake, the I wil be an enemie vnto thine enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

²³ For mine Angel shall go before thee, & bring thee vnto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, and I will destroy them.

²⁴ Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shaltGod commands his own to not only not worship idols, but to destroy them.utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

²⁵ And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thyThat is, all things necessary for this present life.bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

²⁶ There shall none cast their fruite nor be baren in thy lande: the number of thy dayes will I fulfill.

²⁷ I will send myI will make them afraid of your coming and send my angel to destroy them, as in (Exo_35:2).fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

²⁸ And I will sende hornets before thee, which shal driue out the Hiuites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from thy face.

²⁹ I will not cast them out from thy face in one yeere, least the land grow to a wildernes: & the beasts of the field multiplie against thee.

³⁰ By litle and litle I will driue them out from thy face, vntill thou increase, and inherite the lande.

³¹ And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the seaCalled the Sea of Syria.of the Philistines, and from theOf Arabia called desert.desert unto theThat is, Ephraim.river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

³² Thou shalt make no couenant with them, nor with their gods:

³³ Neither shall they dwell in thy lande, least they make thee sinne against me: for if thou serue their gods, surely it shall be thy destruction.