22

1“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. 3If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.

5“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten by letting his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard.

6“If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

7“If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8If the thief isn’t found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out whether or not he has put his hand on his neighbor’s goods. 9For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

10“If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; 11the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. 12But if it is stolen from him, the one who stole shall make restitution to its owner. 13If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn.

14“If a man borrows anything of his neighbor’s, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 15If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.

16“If a man entices a virgin who isn’t pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 17If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

18“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

19“Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death.

20“He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed.

21“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

22“You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. 23If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; 24and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

25“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest. 26If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, 27for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.

28“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

29“You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.

“You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me. 30You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

31“You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.

23

1“You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

2“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice. 3You shall not favor a poor man in his cause.

4“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him. You shall surely help him with it.

6“You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

7“Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.

8“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

9“You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

10“For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, 11but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

12“Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien may be refreshed.

13“Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.

14“You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. 15You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. 16And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. 17Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.

18“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.

19You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of Yahweh your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

20“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. 22But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. 23For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off. 24You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. 25You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. 27I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. 29I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. 30Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. 31I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33They 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.”

24

1He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance. 2Moses alone shall come near to Yahweh, but they shall not come near. The people shall not go up with him.”

3Moses came and told the people all Yahweh’s words, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which Yahweh has spoken will we do.”

4Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to Yahweh. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “We will do all that Yahweh has said, and be obedient.”

8Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these words.”

9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. 11He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.

12Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”

13Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain. 14He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”

15Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. 17The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.