Exodus 23 - Introduction

1 Of slander and false witnesse. 3,

6 Of iustice.

4 Of charitablenesse.

10 Of the yeere of rest.

12 Of the Sabbath.

13 Of idolatrie.

14 Of the three feasts.

18 Of the blood and the fat of the sacrifice.

20 An Angel is promised, with a blessing, if they obey him.

1 Thou shalt not [Note: Or, receiue.] raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to bee an vnrighteous witnesse.

2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill: neither shalt thou [Note: Hebrew: answere.] speake in a cause, to decline after many, to wrest iudgement:

3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poore man in his cause.

4 If thou meete thine enemies oxe or his asse going astray, thou shalt surely bring it backe to him againe.

5 [Note: Deuteronomy 22:4.] If thou see the asse of him that hateth thee, lying vnder his burden, [Note: Or, wilt thou cease to helpe him? or, & wouldest cease to leaue thy businesse for him: thou shalt surely leaue it to ioyne with him.] and wouldest forbeare to helpe him, thou shalt surely helpe with him.

6 Thou shalt not wrest the iudgement of thy poore in his cause.

7 Keepe thee farre from a false matter: and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not iustifie the wicked.

8 And [Note: Deuteronomy 16:19; Sir 20:28.] thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth [Note: Hebrew: the seeing.] the wise, and peruerteth the words of the righteous.

9 Also thou shalt not oppresse a stranger: for yee know the [Note: Hebrew: soule.] heart of a stranger, seeing yee were strangers in the land of Egypt.

10 And [Note: Leviticus 25:3.] sixe yeres thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruites thereof:

11 But the seuenth yeere thou shalt let it rest, and lie still, that the poore of thy people may eate, and what they leaue, the beasts of the field shall eate. In like maner thou shalt deale with thy vineyard, and with thy [Note: Or, oliue trees.] oliue yard.

12 [Note: Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:13; Luke 13:14.] Sixe dayes thou shalt doe thy worke, and on the seuenth day thou shalt rest: that thine oxe and thine asse may rest, and the sonne of thy handmayd, & the stranger may be refreshed.

13 And in all things that I haue said vnto you, be circumspect: and make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

[Three solemne feasts.]

14 [Note: Deuteronomy 16:16.] Three times thou shalt keepe a feast vnto me in the yeere.

15 [Note: Exodus 13:3; Exodus 34:18.] Thou shalt keepe the feast of vnleauened bread: thou shalt eate vnleauened bread seuen daies, as I commanded thee in the time appointed of the moneth Abib: for in it thou camest out from Egypt: [Note: Deuteronomy 16:16 Sir 35:4.] and none shall appeare before me emptie:

16 And the feast of haruest, the first fruits of thy labours, which thou hast sowen in the field: and the feast of ingathering which is in the end of the yeere, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

17 Three times in the yeere all thy males shall appeare before the Lord God.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leauened bread, neither shall the fat of my [Note: Or, feast.] sacrifice remaine vntill the morning.

19 [Note: Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:22.] The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God: thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milke.

20 [Note: Exodus 33:2.] Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keepe thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I haue prepared.

21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, prouoke 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 doe all that I speake, then I wil be an enemie vnto thine enemies, and [Note: Or, I will afflict them that afflict thee.] an aduersarie vnto thine aduersaries.

23 [Note: Exodus 33:2.] For mine Angel shall goe before thee, and [Note: Joshua 24:11.] bring thee in vnto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hiuites, and the Iebusites: and I will cut them off.

24 Thou shalt not bow downe to their gods, nor serue them, nor doe after their workes: [Note: Deuteronomy 7:25.] but thou shalt vtterly ouerthrowe them, and quite breake downe their images.

25 And yee shall serue the Lord your God, and he shall blesse thy bread, and thy water: and I will take sicknes away from the midst of thee.

26 [Note: Deuteronomy 7:14.] There shall nothing cast their yong, nor bee barren in thy land: the number of thy dayes I will fulfill.

27 I will send my feare before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom

[Gods promise.]

thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turne their [Note: Hebrew: necks.] backes vnto thee.

28 And [Note: Joshua 24:12.] I will send hornets before thee, which shall driue out the Hiuite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee.

29 I will not driue them out from before thee in one yeere, lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

30 By little and little I will driue them out from before thee, vntill thou be increased and inherit the land.

31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea, euen vnto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert vnto the riuer: for I will deliuer the inhabitants of the land into your hand: and thou shalt driue them out before thee.

32 [Note: Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 7:2.] Thou shalt make no couenant with them, nor with their gods.

33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sinne against me: for if thou serue their gods, [Note: Deuteronomy 7:16; Joshua 23:13; Judges 2:3.] it will surely be a snare vnto thee.