Exodus 23

Exodus · Chapter 23

Exodus 23:1

1Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.2Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:3Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.4If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.5If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.6Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.7Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.8And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.9Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.10And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:11But 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 deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.12Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.13And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.14Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.15Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)16And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.17Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God.18Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.19The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.20Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.21Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.22But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.23For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.24Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.25And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.26There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.27I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.28And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.31And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.32Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.33They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
1Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.Thou shalt not take up a false report: put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
notלֹ֥אlo'H3808
not

לֹא (lo) 1) not, no 1a) not (with verb-absolute prohibition) 1b) not (with modifier-negation) 1c) nothing (subst) 1d) without (with particle) 1e) before (of time) Aramaic equivalent: la (לָא "not" H3809)

you must bearתִשָּׂ֖אti-SA'H5375N
to lift: raise

נָשָׂא (na.sa) : raise/take_up 1) to lift, bear up, carry, take 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to lift, lift up 1a2) to bear, carry, support, sustain, endure 1a3) to take, take away, carry off, forgive 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be lifted up, be exalted 1b2) to lift oneself up, rise up 1b3) to be borne, be carried 1b4) to be taken away, be carried off, be swept away 1c) (Piel) 1c1) to lift up, exalt, support, aid, assist 1c2) to desire, long (fig.) 1c3) to carry, bear continuously 1c4) to take, take away 1d) (Hithpael) to lift oneself up, exalt oneself 1e) (Hiphil) 1e1) to cause one to bear (iniquity) …

a report ofשֵׁ֣מַעSHE-ma'H8088B
report

שֵׁ֫מַע (she.ma) report, a hearing Also means: sho.ma (שֹׁ֫מַע "report" H8089)

falsehoodשָׁ֑וְאShav'H7723G
vanity: false

שָׁוְא (shav) : false 1) emptiness, vanity, falsehood 1a) emptiness, nothingness, vanity 1b) emptiness of speech, lying 1c) worthlessness (of conduct) Also means: shav (שָׁוְא ": vain" H7723H)

may notאַל־'al-H0408
not

אַל (al) 1) not, no, nor, neither, nothing (as wish or preference) 1a) do not, let not (with a verb) 1b) let there not be (with a verb understood) 1c) not, no (with substantive) 1d) nothing (as substantive) Aramaic equivalent: al (אַל "not" H0409)

you putתָּ֤שֶׁתTA-shetH7896H
to set: make

שִׁית (shit) : make/establish 1) to put, set 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to put, lay (hand upon) 1a2) to set, station, appoint, fix, set mind to 1a3) to constitute, make (one something), make like, perform 1a4) to take one's stand 1a5) to lay waste 1b) (Hophal) to be imposed, be set upon

hand yourיָֽדְךָ֙ya-de-KHAH3027G
hand

יָד (yad) : hand/arm[anatomy] 1) hand 1a) hand (of man) 1b) strength, power (fig.) 1c) side (of land), part, portion (metaph.) (fig.) 1d) (various special, technical senses) 1d1) sign, monument 1d2) part, fractional part, share 1d3) time, repetition 1d4) axle-trees, axle 1d5) stays, support (for laver) 1d6) tenons (in tabernacle) 1d7) a phallus, a hand (meaning unsure) 1d8) wrists

withעִם־'im-H5973A
with

עִם (im) 1) with 1a) with 1b) against 1c) toward 1d) as long as

a wicked [person]רָשָׁ֔עra-SHA'H7563
wicked

רָשָׁע (ra.sah) 1) wicked, criminal 1a) guilty one, one guilty of crime (subst) 1b) wicked (hostile to God) 1c) wicked, guilty of sin (against God or man)

to beלִהְיֹ֖תlih-YOTH1961
to be

הָיָה (ha.yah) 1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out 1a) (Qal) 1a1) --- 1a1a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass 1a1b) to come about, come to pass 1a2) to come into being, become 1a2a) to arise, appear, come 1a2b) to become 1a2b1) to become 1a2b2) to become like 1a2b3) to be instituted, be established 1a3) to be 1a3a) to exist, be in existence 1a3b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time) 1a3c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality) 1a3d) to accompany, be with 1b) (Niphal) …

a witness ofעֵ֥ד'edH5707
witness

עֵד (ed) 1) witness 1a) witness, testimony, evidence (of things) 1b) witness (of people)

injusticeחָמָֽס׃ סcha-MASH2555
violence

חָמָס (cha.mas) violence, wrong, cruelty, injustice

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.