Exodus 23 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Justice for All

The LORD’s Angel Sent to Lead Israel

Exo 23:1“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Exo 23:2“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.

Exo 23:3

Exo 23:3“You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.

Exo 23:4

Exo 23:4“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

Exo 23:5

Exo 23:5“If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

Exo 23:6

Exo 23:6“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.

Exo 23:7

Exo 23:7“Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.

Exo 23:8

Exo 23:8“And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

Exo 23:9

Exo 23:9“Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Law of Sabbaths

Exo 23:10

Exo 23:10“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,

Exo 23:11

Exo 23:11“but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

Exo 23:12

Exo 23:12“Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

Exo 23:13

Exo 23:13“And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Three Annual Feasts

(Ex. 34:18–26; Deut. 16:1–17 )

Exo 23:14

Exo 23:14“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:

Exo 23:15

Exo 23:15“You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);

Exo 23:16

Exo 23:16“and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

Exo 23:17

Exo 23:17“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.[fn]

Exo 23:18

Exo 23:18“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning.

Exo 23:19

Exo 23:19“The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Angel and the Promises

Exo 23:20

Exo 23:20“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

Exo 23:21

Exo 23:21“Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.

Exo 23:22

Exo 23:22“But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

Exo 23:23

Exo 23:23“For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

Exo 23:24

Exo 23:24“You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

Exo 23:25

Exo 23:25“So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

Exo 23:26

Exo 23:26“No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

Exo 23:27

Exo 23:27“I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

Exo 23:28

Exo 23:28“And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.

Exo 23:29

Exo 23:29“I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

Exo 23:30

Exo 23:30“Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

Exo 23:31

Exo 23:31“And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River.[fn] For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

Exo 23:32

Exo 23:32“You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

Exo 23:33

Exo 23:33“They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(23:17)

Hebrew YHWH, usually translated LORD

(23:31)

Hebrew Nahar, the Euphrates

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.