the Fourth Week of Advent
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New Life Version
Exodus 23
Different Laws
1 "Do not tell a lie about someone else. Do not join with the sinful to say something that will hurt someone. 2 Do not follow many people in doing wrong. When telling what you know in a trial, do not agree with many people by saying what is not true. 3 And do not show favor to a poor man when he has a problem.
4 "If you meet a bull or donkey that belongs to a man who hates you, be sure to return the animal to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you falling under its load, do not leave the problem to him. Help him to free the animal. 6 Do not keep from doing what is right and fair in trying to help a poor brother when he has a problem. 7 Do not lie against someone. And do not kill those who are right and good or those who are not guilty. For I will not free the guilty. 8 Do not take pay in secret for wrong-doing. For such pay blinds the one who sees well and destroys the words of a good man. 9 Do not make it hard for a stranger because you know how a stranger feels. You were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Seventh Year and Seventh Day
10 "You will plant seeds in your land for six years, and gather the grain. 11 But in the seventh year you will let the land rest without planting. So your people who are in need may eat. Whatever they leave, the animals may eat. You are to do the same with your grape-fields and olive trees. 12 You will work six days and rest on the seventh day. So your bull and your donkey may rest. And the son of your female servant, and the stranger, may get their strength again. 13 Be careful to do all I have said to you. Never speak the name of other gods. Do not let them be heard from your mouth.
Three Great Suppers
14 "Three times a year you will have a special supper to honor Me. 15 You will have the special supper of bread without yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread without yeast at the time I tell you in the month of Abib. For you came out of Egypt during this month. And no one will come before Me with nothing in his hands. 16 You will have the special supper of the gathering time of the first-fruits of your work, of all you plant in the field. And you will have the special supper of gathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your work from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males will come before the Lord God.
18 "Do not give the blood of My gift of worship with bread made with yeast. And the fat of My special supper is not to be kept all night until morning. 19 Bring the best first-fruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God. Do not boil the meat of a young goat in its mother's milk.
The Angel and the Promises
20 "See, I am sending an angel before you to keep you safe on the way. He will bring you to the place I have made ready. 21 Listen to him and obey his voice. Do not turn against him, for he will not forgive your sins, because My name is in him. 22 But if you obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will hate those who hate you and fight against those who fight against you. 23 For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. And I will destroy them. 24 Do not worship their gods, or serve them, or act like them. But you are to destroy them and break their pillars of worship to pieces. 25 Serve the Lord your God and He will give you bread and water. And I will take sickness from among you. 26 Women in your land will not lose their babies before they are born, and will be able to give birth. I will give you a full life. 27 I will send My fear before you. The people you meet will be afraid. And I will make all those who hate you run away from you. 28 I will send hornets before you. They will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites and the Hittites before you come. 29 I will not move them out of your way in one year. So the land will not become a waste, and the animals of the field become too many for you. 30 I will drive them out a few at a time, until you become many and take the land for your own. 31 I will give you the land from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. For I will give you power over the people of the land. And you will drive them away from you. 32 Make no agreement with them or their gods. 33 They are not to live in your land, or they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, for sure it will be a trap to you."
