Exodus 23:4-19
New Catholic Bible
4 [a]“When you encounter the lost ox or donkey of your enemy, you shall bring it back to him. 5 When you see your enemy’s donkey lying helpless under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him alone. You must help him to release it.
6 “You shall not pervert justice for a needy person who turns to you in a dispute.
7 “Keep far away from falsehoods. Do not slay the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the wicked.
8 “Do not accept gifts, for gifts blind the clear-sighted and pervert the cause of the righteous.
9 “Do not oppress those who are sojourners, for you know the life of the sojourner because you yourselves were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
10 “For six years you shall sow the land and you shall harvest its produce, 11 but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the needy of your people may eat of it. Whatever is left, let the beasts of the field eat it. You shall do likewise with your vineyards and your olive groves. 12 For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may rest, as well as the sons of your female slaves and your sojourners.
13 “You shall take heed of all that I have said to you. Do not mention the names of other gods, nor let them be heard on your lips.
14 Feasts and Rites To Be Observed.“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast in my honor.[b]
15 “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You must eat unleavened products for seven days, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month I brought you out of the land of Egypt. You will not appear before me empty-handed.
16 “You shall also observe the Harvest Feast of the firstfruits of that which you have sown in the fields as well as the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather the fruit of your labor in the fields.
17 “Three times a year all your men shall appear before the Lord God.
18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall you allow the fat of my feast to remain till the morning.
19 “You shall bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord, your God. You shall not cook a kid goat in its mother’s milk.[c]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 23:4 Every one is to be treated the same (see Deut 22:1-4). Jesus is the example par excellence in showing others what it means to “Love your enemies” (Mt 5:44).
- Exodus 23:14 The feasts are those of the springtime (Unleavened Bread—Passover; see Ex 12:1, 11), of the summer (Feast of Weeks or Pentecost: 34:22), and of autumn (harvest festivals or Booths: Lev 23:34-43; Deut 16:13). (See Ex 34:18-23; Num 28–29; Deut 16:1-16.)
- Exodus 23:19 Cooking a young goat in its mother’s milk was a pagan custom of the Canaanites.
