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Exodus 23
International Children’s Bible
Exodus 23
International Children’s Bible
Laws About Fairness
23 “You must not tell lies. You might be a witness in court. Don’t help a bad person by telling lies.
2 “You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. You might be a witness in court. Then you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is. 3 A poor man might be in court. You must not take his side just because he is poor.
4 “You might see your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering away. Then you must return it to him. 5 You might see that your enemy’s donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy. You must not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.
6 “You must not be unfair to a poor man when he is in court. 7 You must not lie when you accuse someone in court. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment. This is because I will not treat guilty people as if they were innocent.
8 “You must not accept money from a person who wants you to lie in court. Such money will not let you see what is right. Such money makes good people tell lies.
9 “You must not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner. You were foreigners in Egypt.
Laws for the Sabbath
10 “For six years you are to plant and harvest crops on your land. 11 Then during the seventh year, do not plow or plant your land. If any food grows there, allow the poor people to have it. And let the wild animals eat what is left. You should do the same with your vineyards and your orchards of olive trees.
12 “You should work six days a week. But on the seventh day you must rest. This lets your ox and your donkey rest. This also lets the slave born in your house and the foreigner be refreshed.
13 “Be sure to do all that I have said to you. You must not even say the names of other gods. The names of those gods must not come out of your mouth.
Three Yearly Feasts
14 “Three times each year you must hold a feast to honor me. 15 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Do this in the way I commanded you. For seven days you must eat bread that is made without yeast. You must do this at the set time during the month of Abib. This is the month when you came out of Egypt. No one is to come to worship me without bringing an offering.
16 “You must celebrate the Feast of Harvest. Offer to God the first things you harvest. These are from the crops you planted in your fields.
“You must celebrate the Feast of Tents in the fall. Do this when you gather all the crops from your fields.
17 “So three times during every year all men must come to worship the Lord God.
18 “You must not offer animal blood along with anything that has yeast in it.
“You must not save any of the fat from the sacrifice for the next day.
19 “You must bring the best of the firstfruits of your land. Bring them to the Holy Tent[a] of the Lord your God.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Promises
20 “I am sending an angel ahead of you. He will protect you as you travel. He will lead you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to the angel and obey him. Do not turn against him. He will not forgive such turning against him because my power is in him. 22 You must listen carefully to all he says. You must do everything that I tell you. If you do this, I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight all who fight against you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you. He will take you into the land of these people: the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites. And I will destroy them.
24 “You must not bow down to their gods or worship those gods. You must not live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols. And you must break into pieces stone pillars they use in worship. 25 You must worship the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from you. 26 None of your women will have her baby die before it is born. All women will have children. I will allow you to live long lives.
27 “I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against. I will make all your enemies run away from you. 28 I will send something like hornets ahead of you. They will force the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not force all those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert. Then the wild animals would become too many for you. 30 Instead, I will force those people out of your land very slowly. I will wait until there are enough of you to take over the land.
31 “I will give you the land from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea. And I will give you the land between the desert and the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the people who now live in the land. You will force them out ahead of you. 32 You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods. 33 You must not let them live in your land. If they live there, they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, you will be like someone caught in a trap.”
Footnotes
- 23:19 Holy Tent Literally, “house of the Lord your God.” See Exodus 25:9.
Exodus 23
New International Version
Exodus 23
New International Version
Laws of Justice and Mercy
23 “Do not spread false reports.(A) Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.(B)
2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice(C) by siding with the crowd,(D) 3 and do not show favoritism(E) to a poor person in a lawsuit.
4 “If you come across your enemy’s(F) ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.(G) 5 If you see the donkey(H) of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.
6 “Do not deny justice(I) to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 Have nothing to do with a false charge(J) and do not put an innocent(K) or honest person to death,(L) for I will not acquit the guilty.(M)
8 “Do not accept a bribe,(N) for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
9 “Do not oppress a foreigner;(O) you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
Sabbath Laws
10 “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.(P) Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 “Six days do your work,(Q) but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.(R)
13 “Be careful(S) to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods;(T) do not let them be heard on your lips.(U)
The Three Annual Festivals
14 “Three times(V) a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;(W) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,(X) for in that month you came out of Egypt.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.(Y)
16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest(Z) with the firstfruits(AA) of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering(AB) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.(AC)
17 “Three times(AD) a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.(AE)
“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.(AF)
19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits(AG) of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(AH)
God’s Angel to Prepare the Way
20 “See, I am sending an angel(AI) ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.(AJ) 21 Pay attention to him and listen(AK) to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive(AL) your rebellion,(AM) since my Name(AN) is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do(AO) all that I say, I will be an enemy(AP) to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites,(AQ) and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship(AR) them or follow their practices.(AS) You must demolish(AT) them and break their sacred stones(AU) to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God,(AV) and his blessing(AW) will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness(AX) from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren(AY) in your land. I will give you a full life span.(AZ)
27 “I will send my terror(BA) ahead of you and throw into confusion(BB) every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.(BC) 28 I will send the hornet(BD) ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites(BE) out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals(BF) too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession(BG) of the land.
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea[a] to the Mediterranean Sea,[b] and from the desert to the Euphrates River.(BH) I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out(BI) before you. 32 Do not make a covenant(BJ) with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare(BK) to you.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 23:31 Or the Sea of Reeds
- Exodus 23:31 Hebrew to the Sea of the Philistines
Exodus 23
King James Version
Exodus 23
King James Version
23 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
5 If thou see the 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 wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
15 Thou shalt keep the feast of 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 the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.
18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with 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 his mother's milk.
20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
27 I will send my 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 send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the 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 covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
International Children’s Bible (ICB) 
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.