CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Exodus 23
Chapter 23 of 40
Chapter Overview
What happens in Exodus 23
God gives laws about justice and fairness, commands rest for the land and people every seventh year and every seventh day, and establishes three annual festivals. He also promises to send an angel ahead of the Israelites to guide them into the Promised Land.
Scripture
Exodus 23
Laws About Justice and Fairness
Study note
These laws taught Israel how to maintain a just society. People were not to spread false reports or follow the crowd into doing wrong. Justice was not to be twisted in favor of the poor or the rich. Even your enemy's lost animal had to be returned. Bribes were forbidden because they corrupt good judgment. Foreigners were to be treated kindly because Israel knew what it felt like to be a foreigner.
1 "Do not pass along rumors that are not true. Never join forces with someone who is guilty by giving dishonest testimony." Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 "Do not go along with the crowd because everyone else is doing wrong. When you testify in a legal dispute, do not bend the truth to match what the majority says." Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
3 "Do not give special treatment to a poor person in a court case because they are poor." Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
4 "If you spot your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off on its own, bring it back to them." If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
5 "If you see someone who dislikes you struggling with a donkey collapsing under a heavy load, do not walk on by. Stop and help them." If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
6 "Do not cheat a poor person out of justice when they have a case in court." Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
7 "Stay completely away from dishonest dealings. Never put to death someone who is innocent or has done nothing wrong. I will never declare a guilty person to be innocent." Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 "Never accept a bribe. Bribes make even wise people unable to see clearly and twist the words of those who tell the truth." And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 "Do not oppress foreigners. You understand exactly what it is like to be a foreigner — you lived that way in Egypt." Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Sabbath Laws and Festivals
Study note
God commanded that the land be farmed for six years and left to rest in the seventh, providing food for the poor and wild animals. People and animals were to rest every seventh day. Three annual festivals were required: the Feast of Unleavened Bread in spring, the Feast of Harvest (later called Pentecost) celebrating the first fruits, and the Feast of Ingathering (later called the Feast of Tabernacles) at the end of the harvest season. All men were required to appear before God at these festivals.
10 "Plant your fields and gather your harvests for six years." And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
11 "But every seventh year, let the land rest completely — do not plow or plant. Whatever grows on its own, the poor among you may eat. What the poor leave behind, the wild animals may have. Do the same with your vineyards and olive groves." But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
12 "Work for six days each week, but do not work on the seventh day. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest, and lets your household servants and any foreigners living with you catch their breath." Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
13 "Be very careful to follow everything I have told you. Never speak the names of other gods — do not even let those names cross your lips." And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
14 "Three times each year, you must hold a celebration in my honor." Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
15 "First, observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, eat bread without yeast, exactly as I instructed you. Do this at the designated time in the month of Abib — that is when you left Egypt. Nobody should show up before me without bringing an offering." Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
16 "Second, celebrate the Festival of Harvest when the first crops from your planted fields are ready. Third, celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the close of the year, when you bring in all your crops from the fields." And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
17 "Three times a year, every man must come and appear before the Lord God." Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
18 "When you present a blood sacrifice to me, do not include anything that contains yeast. Also, do not let the fat from my festival offerings sit until the next morning." Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
19 "Bring the finest of your first harvest to the house of the Lord your God. And do not cook a young goat in its own mother's milk." The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
God's Angel Will Lead the Way
Study note
God promised to send an angel before the Israelites to protect them and bring them into the Promised Land. The people were told to obey this angel because God's own authority was in him. If they obeyed, God would be an enemy to their enemies. He promised to drive out the nations of Canaan little by little, not all at once, so the land would not become empty and wild. God set the borders of the Promised Land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. The Israelites were strictly warned not to make treaties with the Canaanites or worship their gods.
20 "I am sending an angel out ahead of you. He will protect you on the journey and bring you safely to the place I have set up for you." Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 "Listen carefully to this angel and do what he says. Do not resist him, because he carries my authority and will not tolerate rebellion." Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
22 "But if you truly listen to him and do everything I say, I will fight against your enemies. I will stand against anyone who stands against you." But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
23 "My angel will go ahead and lead you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will wipe them out." For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
24 "Do not bow before their gods or worship them. Do not adopt their religious customs. Instead, completely demolish their idols and shatter their sacred pillars." Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
25 "Worship the Lord your God and he will provide you with good food and clean water. I will keep disease away from you." And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 "No woman among you will have a miscarriage or be unable to have children. I will let you live out your full lifespan." There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
27 "I will send waves of terror ahead of you that will throw every nation you face into panic. I will make all your enemies turn tail and run." I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
28 "I will send swarms of hornets ahead of you to chase out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites." And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
29 "But I will not clear them all out in one single year. If I did, the land would turn into an empty wasteland, and wild animals would take over and threaten you." I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
30 "I will push them out a little at a time, until your people have grown large enough to take over the whole land." By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31 "I will set your borders from the Red Sea all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. They will stretch from the southern desert up to the Euphrates River. I will hand over everyone living in that land, and you will drive them out." And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
32 "Do not enter into any treaty or agreement with them or with their gods." Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 "Do not allow them to remain in your land. If you do, they will lead you into sinning against me. If you end up worshiping their gods, it will become a deadly trap for you." They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
Key Themes
Themes in Exodus 23
Justice and fairness in legal mattersSabbath rest for all — including animals and servantsThe three great annual festivalsGod's angel goes before His people
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Exodus 15-16 Acts 2:1-4
The Festival of Weeks (Pentecost) finds its ultimate fulfillment when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples in Acts 2.
Apply This Today
Living Exodus 23
God built rhythms of rest and celebration into Israel's calendar. The Sabbath, the festivals, and even the land's rest year were all reminders that life is more than work. In our busy modern lives, we need these rhythms too — regular times to stop, rest, worship, and remember what God has done.
Go Deeper
Study Exodus in Covenant Path
Read every chapter with study aids, bookmarks, and daily reading plans — free in the app.