Exodus 23:3-13

3 You will not be partial to a powerless [person] in his legal dispute.
4 " 'If you come upon the ox of your enemy or his donkey going astray, you will certainly bring it back to him
5 If you see the donkey of your enemy lying down under its burden, you will refrain from abandoning him. You will surely arrange [it] with him.
6 " 'You will not pervert the justice of your poor in his legal dispute.
7 You will stay far from a {false charge}, and do not kill [the] innocent and [the] righteous, because I will not declare [the] wicked righteous.
8 And you will not take a bribe, because the bribe makes [the] sighted blind and ruins [the] words of [the] righteous.
9 And you will not oppress an alien; you yourselves know the feelings of the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Regulations Regarding Work and Festivals

10 " 'And six years you will sow your land and gather its yield.
11 But the seventh you will let it rest and leave it fallow, and the poor of your people will eat, and their remainder the animals of the field will eat. You will do likewise for your vineyard and for your olive trees.
12 " 'Six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you will stop so that your ox and your donkey will rest and the son of your slave woman and the alien will be refreshed.
13 " 'And you will be attentive to all that I have said to you, and you will not {profess} the name of other gods; it will not be heard in your mouth.

Exodus 23:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 23

This chapter contains several laws, chiefly judicial, relating to the civil polity of Israel, as concerning witness borne and judgment made of cases in courts of judicature, without any respect to poor or rich, and without the influence of a bribe, Ex 23:1-3,6-8, concerning doing good to an enemy in case any of his cattle go astray, or fall under their burden, Ex 23:4,5, and of the oppression of a stranger, Ex 23:9, and then follow others concerning the sabbath of the seventh year, and of the seventh day, with a caution against the use of the names of idols, Ex 23:10-13, next are laws concerning the appearance of all their males at the three feasts, Ex 23:14-17, and concerning the slaying of the sacrifice of the passover, and bringing the first of the firstfruits of the land, Ex 23:18,19 and then a promise is made of sending an angel to them to bring them into the land of Canaan, where they should carefully avoid all idolatry, and show a just indignation against it, and serve the Lord, and then it would be well with them, Ex 23:20-26, and particularly it is promised, that the Lord would send his fear, and his hornets, before them, to destroy the inhabitants of the land, and drive out the rest by little and little, until they should possess the utmost borders of it, which are fixed, Ex 23:27-31, and the chapter is concluded with a direction not to make a covenant with these people, or their gods, nor suffer them to dwell among them, lest they should be a snare unto them, Ex 23:32,33.

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Or "a poor [person]"
  • [b]. Or "restore" or "put in order"
  • [c]. Literally "word of deception"
  • [d]. Or "treat as innocent" or "acquit"
  • [e]. Or "inner self" or "soul"
  • [f]. Hebrew "animal"
  • [g]. Literally "cause to remember," "bring to remembrance," or "mention" in prayer or praise
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.