Exodus 23:1-9

1 ¹“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a ²malicious witness.

2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,

3 ³nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

4 ⁴“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

6 ⁵“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.

7 ⁶Keep far from a false charge, and ⁷do not kill the innocent and righteous, for ⁸I will not acquit the wicked.

8 ⁹And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

9 ¹⁰“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:1-9 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.

Cross References

• 1. 23:1 [Lev. 19:11; Ps. 15:3; 101:5]
• 2. 23:1 Deut. 19:16-18; Ps. 35:11; [1 Kgs. 21:10, 13; Matt. 26:59-61; Acts 6:11, 13]
• 3. 23:3 Lev. 19:15; [Deut. 1:17]
• 4. 23:4 [Deut. 22:1, 4; Prov. 25:21; Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:20; 1 Thess. 5:15]
• 5. 23:6 Deut. 27:19; Eccles. 5:8; Isa. 10:1, 2; Jer. 5:28, 29; Mal. 3:5
• 6. 23:7 [See ver. 1 above]
• 7. 23:7 Deut. 27:25; [Prov. 17:26]
• 8. 23:7 ch. 34:7
• 9. 23:8 Deut. 16:19; [1 Sam. 8:3; 2 Chr. 19:7; Ps. 26:10; Prov. 17:23; Isa. 1:23; 5:23; 33:15]
• 10. 23:9 See ch. 22:21