Exodus 23:2-12

2 Thou shalt not follow a company to do evil, neither thou shalt assent to the sentence of full many men in doom, that thou go away from truth. (Thou shalt not follow a crowd and do evil, nor shalt thou agree with the sentence, or the decree, of a great many men in judgement, and in doing so, go away from the truth.)

3 Also thou shalt not have mercy of a poor man in a cause, or doom. (And thou shalt not favour a poor person in his case, or in its judgement.)

4 If thou meetest thine enemy's ox, either his ass, straying, lead it again to him. (If thou seest thy enemy's ox, or his donkey, straying, lead it back to him.

5 If thou seest that the ass of him that hateth thee lieth under a burden, thou shalt not pass, but thou shalt raise up it with him. (If thou seest that the donkey of him who hateth thee lieth under a burden, thou shalt not pass by, but thou shalt raise it up with him.)

6 Thou shalt not bow [away] from truth in the doom of a poor man. (Thou shalt not turn away from the truth in the judgement of a poor person.)

7 Thou shalt flee leasing. Thou shalt not slay an innocent man, and just; for I am adversary to a wicked man. (Thou shalt flee from lies. Thou shalt not kill the innocent, or the just; for I am the adversary to the wicked.)

8 Take thou not gifts, that blind, yea, prudent men, and destroy the words of just men. (Do not take gifts, or bribes, that blind, yea, the prudent, and that destroy the words of the just.)

9 Thou shalt not be dis-easeful of a pilgrim, for ye know the souls of comelings, for also ye were pilgrims in the land of Egypt. (Thou shalt not mis-treat a foreigner, for ye know the souls of newcomers, for ye were foreigners in the land of Egypt.)

10 Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and thou shalt gather [the] fruits thereof;

11 forsooth in the seventh year thou shalt leave it, and make it to rest, that the poor men of thy people eat, and whatever is left ungathered, the beasts of the field eat it; so thou shalt do in thy vinery, and in the place of thine olive trees. (but in the seventh year thou shalt let it be, and allow it to rest, and thy poor people shall get food from it, and whatever is left ungathered, the beasts of the field shall eat it; so shalt thou also do with thy vineyard, and with the place of thy olive trees.)

12 Six days thou shalt work, and in the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thine ox, and thine ass rest, and the son of thine handmaid, and the comeling be refreshed. (For six days thou shalt work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, so that thy ox, and thy donkey, can also rest, and so that the son of thy slave-girl, and the newcomer, or the foreigner, can be refreshed.)

Exodus 23:2-12 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.