Exodus 23 - 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

23 2 Not to follow the multitude. 13 Not to make mention of the strange gods. 14 The three solemn feasts. 20, 23 The Angel is promised to lead his people.  25 What God promiseth if they obey him. 29 God will cast out the Canaanites by little and little, and why.

¹ Thou shalt not ^[a]receive a false tale, neither shalt thou put thine hand with the wicked, to be a ^[b]false witness.

² ¶ Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither ^[c]agree in a controversy ^[d]to decline after many and overthrow the truth.

³ ¶ Thou shalt not esteem a poor man in his cause.

⁴ ¶ If thou meet thine enemy’s ox, or his ass going astray, thou shalt ^[e]bring him to him again.

⁵ If thou see thine enemy’s ^[f]ass lying under his burden, wilt thou cease to help him? thou shalt help him up again with it.

⁶ Thou shalt not overthrow the right of the poor in his suit.

⁷ Thou shalt keep thee far from a false matter, thou shalt not slay the ^[g]innocent and the righteous: for I will not justify a wicked man.

⁸ ¶ ^(A)Thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the ^[h]wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

⁹ ¶ Thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the ^[i]heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

^{10 (B)}Moreover, six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather 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 do with thy vineyard, and with thine olive trees.

^{12 (C)}Six days thou shalt do thy work, and in the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox, and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy maid, and the stranger may be refreshed.

¹³ And ye shall take heed to all things that I have said unto you: and ye shall make ^[j]no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall it be heard out of thy mouth.

¹⁴ ¶ Three times shalt thou keep a feast unto me in the year.

¹⁵ Thou ^(D)shalt keep the feast of ^[k]unleavened bread: thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the season of the month of Abib: for in it thou camest out of Egypt: and ^(E)none shall appear before me empty.

¹⁶ The ^[l]feast also of the harvest of the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the ^[m]feast of gathering fruits in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.

¹⁷ These three times in the year shall all thy men children appear before the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁸ Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with ^[n]leavened bread: neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

^{19 (F)} The first of the firstfruits of thy land, thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God: yet shalt thou not seethe a kid in his ^[o]mother’s milk.

²⁰ ¶ ^(G)Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in thy way, and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared.

²¹ Beware of him, and hear his voice, and provoke him not: for he will not spare your misdeeds, because my ^[p]name is in him.

²² But if thou hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

²³ For mine Angel ^(H)shall go before thee, and bring thee unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them.

²⁴ Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, neither serve them, nor do after the works of them: but ^(I)[q]utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces their images.

²⁵ For ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy ^[r]bread and thy water, and I will take all sickness away from the midst of thee.

²⁶ ¶ ^(J)There shall none cast their fruit, nor be barren in thy land, the number of thy days will I fulfill.

²⁷ I will send my ^[s]fear before thee, and will destroy all the people among whom thou shalt go: and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee:

²⁸ And I will send ^(K)hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from thy face.

²⁹ I will not cast them out from thy face in one year, lest the land grow to a wilderness, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee.

³⁰ By little and little I will drive them out from thy face, until thou increase, and inherit the land.

³¹ And I will make thy coasts from the red sea unto the sea ^[t]of the Philistines, and from the ^[u]desert unto the ^[v]River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shalt drive them out from thy face.

^{32 (L)}Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods:

³³ Neither shall they dwell in the land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, surely it shall be thy ^[w](M)destruction.

Footnotes

1. Exodus 23:1 Or, report a false tale.
2. Exodus 23:1 Or, cruel.
3. Exodus 23:2 Hebrew, answer.
4. Exodus 23:2 Do that which is godly, though few do favor it.
5. Exodus 23:4 If we be bound to do good to our enemy’s beast, much more to our enemy himself, Matt. 5:44.
6. Exodus 23:5 If God command to help up our enemy’s ass under his burden, will he suffer us to cast down our brethren with heavy burdens?
7. Exodus 23:7 Whether thou be magistrate or art commanded by the magistrate.
8. Exodus 23:8 Hebrew, seeing.
9. Exodus 23:9 For in that that he is a stranger, his heart is sorrowful enough.
10. Exodus 23:13 Neither by swearing by them nor speaking of them, Ps. 16:4; Eph. 5:3.
11. Exodus 23:15 That is, Easter, in remembrance that the Angel passed over and spared the Israelites, when he slew the firstborn of the Egyptians.
12. Exodus 23:16 Which is Whitsuntide, in token that the Law was given 50 days after they departed from Egypt.
13. Exodus 23:16 This is the feast of Tabernacles, signifying that they dwelled 40 years under the tents or the Tabernacles in wilderness.
14. Exodus 23:18 No leavened bread shall be there in thine house.
15. Exodus 23:19 Meaning, that no fruits should be taken before just time: and hereby are bridled all cruel and wanton appetites.
16. Exodus 23:21 I will give him mine authority, and he shall govern you in my name.
17. Exodus 23:24 God commandeth his not only not to worship idols, but to destroy them.
18. Exodus 23:25 That is, all things necessary for this present life.
19. Exodus 23:27 I will make them afraid at thy coming and send mine Angel to destroy them, as Exod. 35:2.
20. Exodus 23:31 Called the Sea of Syria.
21. Exodus 23:31 Of Arabia called desert.
22. Exodus 23:31 To wit, Ephraim.
23. Exodus 23:33 Hebrew, offense or snare.

Cross references

1. Exodus 23:8 : Deut. 16:19
2. Exodus 23:10 : Lev. 25:3; Lev. 26:43; Deut. 15:1
3. Exodus 23:12 : Exod. 20:8; Deut. 5:13
4. Exodus 23:15 : Exod. 13:3; Exod. 34:18
5. Exodus 23:15 : Deut. 16:16
6. Exodus 23:19 : Exod. 34:26; Deut. 14:22
7. Exodus 23:20 : Exod. 33:2; Deut. 7:22
8. Exodus 23:23 : Exod. 33:2; Deut. 7:21; Josh. 24:12
9. Exodus 23:24 : Deut. 7:25
10. Exodus 23:26 : Deut. 7:14
11. Exodus 23:28 : Josh. 24:12
12. Exodus 23:32 : Exod. 34:15; Deut. 7:2
13. Exodus 23:33 : Deut. 7:16; Josh. 23:13