Exodus 22; Exodus 23; Exodus 24

Exodus 22

1 "If a man steals a bull or a sheep and kills or sells it, he must pay back five bulls for the one bull he stole and four sheep for the one sheep he stole.

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4 "The robber who is caught must pay back what he stole. If he owns nothing, he must be sold as a slave to pay for what he stole. If the stolen animal is found alive with the robber, he must give the owner two animals for every animal he stole, whether it was a bull, donkey, or sheep. "If a thief is killed while breaking into a house at night, the one who killed him is not guilty of murder. But if this happens during the day, he is guilty of murder.

5 "If a man lets his farm animal graze in his field or vineyard, and it wanders into another man's field or vineyard, the owner of the animal must pay back the loss from the best of his crop.

6 "Suppose a man starts a fire that spreads through the thornbushes to his neighbor's field. If the fire burns his neighbor's growing grain or grain that has been stacked, or if it burns his whole field, the person who started the fire must pay for what was burned.

7 "Suppose a man gives his neighbor money or other things to keep for him and those things are stolen from the neighbor's house. If the thief is caught, he must pay back twice as much as he stole.

8 But if the thief is never found, the owner of the house must make a promise before God that he has not stolen his neighbor's things.

9 "Suppose two men disagree about who owns something -- whether ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or something else that is lost. If each says, 'This is mine,' each man must bring his case to God. God's judges will decide who is guilty, and that person must pay the other man twice as much as the object is worth.

10 "Suppose a man asks his neighbor to keep his donkey, ox, sheep, or some other animal for him, and that animal dies, gets hurt, or is taken away, without anyone seeing what happened.

11 That neighbor must promise before the Lord that he did not harm or kill the other man's animal, and the owner of the animal must accept his promise made before God. The neighbor does not have to pay the owner for the animal.

12 But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, he must pay the owner for it.

13 If wild animals killed it, the neighbor must bring the body as proof, and he will not have to pay for the animal that was killed.

14 "If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it gets hurt or dies while the owner is not there, the one who borrowed it must pay the owner for the animal.

15 But if the owner is with the animal, the one who borrowed it does not have to pay. If the animal was rented, the rental price covers the loss.

16 "Suppose a man finds a woman who is not pledged to be married and has never had sexual relations with a man. If he tricks her into having sexual relations with him, he must give her family the payment to marry her, and she will become his wife.

17 But if her father refuses to allow his daughter to marry him, the man must still give the usual payment for a bride who has never had sexual relations.

18 "Put to death any woman who does evil magic.

19 "Put to death anyone who has sexual relations with an animal.

20 "Destroy completely any person who makes a sacrifice to any god except the Lord.

21 "Do not cheat or hurt a foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

22 "Do not cheat a widow or an orphan.

23 If you do, and they cry out to me for help, I certainly will hear their cry.

24 And I will be very angry and kill you in war. Then your wives will become widows, and your children will become orphans.

25 "If you lend money to one of my people who is poor, do not treat him as a moneylender would. Charge him nothing for using your money.

26 If your neighbor gives you his coat as a promise for the money he owes you, you must give it back to him by sunset,

27 because it is the only cover to keep his body warm. He has nothing else to sleep in. If he cries out to me for help, I will listen, because I am merciful.

28 "You must not speak against God or curse a leader of your people.

29 "Do not hold back your offering from the first of your harvest and the first wine that you make. Also, you must give me your firstborn sons.

30 You must do the same with your bulls and your sheep. Let the firstborn males stay with their mothers for seven days, and on the eighth day you must give them to me.

31 "You are to be my holy people. You must not eat the meat of any animal that has been killed by wild animals. Instead, give it to the dogs.

Exodus 23

1 "You must not tell lies. If you are a witness in court, don't help a wicked person by tell- ing lies.

2 "You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. If you are a witness in court, you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is.

3 If a poor person is in court, you must not take his side just because he is poor.

4 "If you see your enemy's ox or donkey wandering away, you must return it to him

5 If you see that your enemy's donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy, do not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.

6 "You must not be unfair to a poor person when he is in court.

7 You must not lie when you accuse someone in court. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment, because I will not treat guilty people as if they were innocent.

8 "You must not accept money from a person who wants you to lie in court, because such money will not let you see what is right. Such money makes good people tell lies.

9 "You must not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

10 "For six years you are to plant and harvest crops on your land.

11 Then during the seventh year, do not plow or plant your land. If any food grows there, allow the poor people to have it, and let the wild animals eat what is left. You should do the same with your vineyards and your orchards of olive trees.

12 "You should work six days a week, but on the seventh day you must rest. This lets your ox and your donkey rest, and it also lets the slave born in your house and the foreigner be refreshed.

13 "Be sure to do all that I have said to you. You must not even say the names of other gods; those names must not come out of your mouth.

14 "Three times each year you must hold a feast to honor me

15 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the way I commanded you. For seven days you must eat bread that is made without yeast at the set time during the month of Abib, the month when you came out of Egypt. No one is to come to worship me without bringing an offering.

16 "You must celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Offer to God the first things you harvest from the crops you planted in your fields. "You must celebrate the Feast of Shelters in the fall, when you gather all the crops from your fields.

17 "So three times during every year all your males must come to worship the Lord God.

18 "You must not offer animal blood along with anything that has yeast in it. "You must not save any of the fat from the sacrifice for the next day.

19 "You must bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the Holy Tentn of the Lord your God. "You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk

20 "I am sending an angel ahead of you, who will protect you as you travel. He will lead you to the place I have prepared.

21 Pay attention to the angel and obey him. Do not turn against him; he will not forgive such turning against him because my power is in him

22 If you listen care- fully to all he says and do everything that I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight all who fight against you.

23 My angel will go ahead of you and take you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will destroy them.

24 "You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. You must not live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols, breaking into pieces the stone pillars they use in worship.

25 If you worship the Lord your God, I will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from you.

26 None of your women will have her baby die before it is born, and all women will have children. I will allow you to live long lives.

27 "I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against, and I will make all your enemies run away from you.

28 I will send terror ahead of you that will force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way.

29 But I will not force all those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert and the wild animals would become too many for you.

30 Instead, I will force those people out slowly, until there are enough of you to take over the land.

31 "I will give you the land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the people who now live in the land, and you will force them out ahead of you.

32 You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods.

33 You must not let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, you will be caught in a trap."

Exodus 24

1 The Lord told Moses, "You, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the older leaders of Israel must come up to me and worship me from a distance.

2 Then Moses alone must come near me; the others must not come near. The rest of the people must not come up the mountain with Moses."

3 Moses told the people all the Lord's words and laws for living. Then all of the people answered out loud together, "We will do all the things the Lord has said."

4 So Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And he got up early the next morning and built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 Then Moses sent young Israelite men to offer whole burnt offerings and to sacrifice young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.

6 Moses put half of the blood of these animals in bowls, and he sprinkled the other half of the blood on the altar.

7 Then he took the Book of the Agreement and read it so the people could hear him. And they said, "We will do everything that the Lord has said; we will obey."

8 Then Moses took the blood from the bowls and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood that begins the Agreement, the Agreement which the Lord has made with you about all these words."

9 Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the older leaders of Israel went up the mountain

10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was a surface that looked as if it were paved with blue sapphire stones, and it was as clear as the sky!

11 These leaders of the Israelites saw God, but God did not destroy them. Then they ate and drank together.

12 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up the mountain to me. Wait there, and I will give you two stone tablets. On these are the teachings and the commands I have written to instruct the people."

13 So Moses and his helper Joshua set out, and Moses went up to Sinai, the mountain of God.

14 Moses said to the older leaders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone who has a disagreement with others can take it to them."

15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it.

16 The glory of the Lord came down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud.

17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain.

18 Then Moses went into the cloud and went higher up the mountain. He was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.