Contemporary English Version Anglicised

Exodus 23:7-24 Contemporary English Version Anglicised (CEVUK00)

7. Don't bring false charges against anyone or sentence an innocent person to death. I won't forgive you if you do.

8. Don't accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.

9. Don't ill-treat foreigners. You were foreigners in Egypt, and you know what it is like.

10. Plant and harvest your crops for six years,

11. but let the land rest during the seventh year. The poor are to eat what they want from your fields, vineyards, and olive trees during that year, and when they have all they want from your fields, leave the rest for wild animals.

12. Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh day. This law is not only for you, but for your oxen, donkeys, and slaves, as well as for any foreigners among you.

13. Make certain that you obey everything I have said. Don't pray to other gods or even mention their names.

14. Celebrate three festivals each year in my honour.

15. Celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread by eating bread made without yeast, just as I have commanded. Do this at the proper time during the month of Abib, because it is the month when you left Egypt. And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings.

16. Celebrate the Harvest Festival each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters each autumn when you pick your fruit.

17. Your men must come to these three festivals each year to worship me.

18. Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. And make sure that the fat of the animal is burnt that same day.

19. Each year bring the best part of your first harvest to the place of worship.Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

20. I am sending an angel to protect you and to lead you into the land I have ready for you.

21. Carefully obey everything the angel says, because I am giving him complete authority, and he won't tolerate rebellion.

22. If you faithfully obey him, I will be a fierce enemy of your enemies.

23. My angel will lead you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

24. Don't worship their gods or follow their customs. Instead, destroy their idols and shatter their stone images.