1Laws concerning slander, false witness, and partial favouring of the poor; 4charitableness; 6justice in judgment; 8taking bribes; 9oppressing a stranger; 10the year of rest; 12the sabbath. 13A caution against idolatry. 14Laws concerning the three set feasts; 18the blood and fat of the sacrifice; and the firstfruits. 20An Angel is promised for a guide, with a blessing, if they obey him.
1THOU shalt not 1raise a 2false report: 3put not thine hand with the wicked to be an 4unrighteous witness.
1 Other, receive, carry forth, spread.
2 Hebr. report of lying, or, hearing of falsehood.
3 That is, be not of their evil company; join not with them to help them carry on their wicked enterprise.
4 Hebr. of violence.
2¶Thou shalt not follow a 5multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
5 Hebr. many; Other, the mighty, the great, or, powerful.
3¶Neithera shalt thou 6countenance a poor man in his cause.
a Lev. 19:15.
6 Hebr. glorify, honor.
4¶Ifb thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt 7surely bring it back to him again.
b Deut. 22:1, 2; Luke 6:27; Philip. 2:4.
7 Hebr. bringing back bring back.
5Ifc thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and 8wouldest forbear to help him, 9thou shalt surely help 10with him.
c Deut. 22:4.
8 Other, thou shalt refrain thyself to leave him there, and leaving him shalt leave with him, that is, not before he leaves him.
9 Hebr. helping thou shalt help. Other, thou shalt by all means get it up with him. Compare Neh. 3:8; 4:2.
10 That is, as he must neglect his business to rescue his ass, so for his sake you shall likewise neglect your own.
611Thoud shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
11 Namely, sitting as judge of the people, in judgment.
d Deut. 27:19.
7Keep thee far from a false 12matter; and the innocent and righteous 13slay thou not: for I will not justify 14the wicked.
12 Or, words.
13 That is, not sentence, cast, or condemn him to die, in the speech here God addresses the magistrates.
14 Namely, a wicked and unjust judge who pronounces an unrighteous judgment over a guiltless person.
8¶Ande thou shalt take 15no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the 16words of the righteous.
e Deut. 16:19; 1 Sam. 8:3; Prov. 19:6; Eccl. 7:7.
15 Namely, from persons, pleading in judgment, or having any cause before the judge.
16 Or, cause.
9¶Also thouf shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye 17know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
f Exod. 22:21; Lev. 19:33; Deut. 24:17.
17 Other, you know how a stranger’s heart stands affected.
10And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
11Butg the seventh year thou shalt let it 18rest and lie still; 19that the poor of thy people may 20eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
g Lev. 25:4, 5.
18 That is, leave it uncultivated. Compare Jer. 17:4.
19 Understand, that they may eat, together with you and yours, in regard that such a year’s provision was to grow without any human labor by God’s special blessing. See Lev. 25:6, 7.
20 That, namely, which shall grow in the seventh year of itself, Lev. 25:5, 6.
12Sixh days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and 21the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
h Exod. 20:8; 31:13, 14, etc.
21 That is, the servant, born of your bondwoman.
13And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of thei name of other gods, neither 22let it be heard out of thy mouth.
i Num. 32:38; Joshua 23:7; Psalm 16:4; Hosea 2:16; Zech. 13:2.
22 Either in oath, or to any such like purpose.
14¶Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
15Thou shalt keep 23the feastj of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the 24month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: andk25none shall appear before me 26empty:)
23 The feast of the passover and the feast of the unleavened bread, is one and the same indeed, only there is this difference between them that that day only is called the passover in which the paschal lamb was eaten; the other seven days were called the days of unleavened bread.
j Exod. 12:14, 15; 13:3.
24 See Exod. 12:2; 13:4.
k Exod. 34:20; Deut. 16:16.
25 This is only spoken to men, as appears in verse 17, and Deut. 16:16.
26 That is, not without some gift, or offering.
16And 27the feast of 28harvest, the firstfruits 29of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and 30the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
27 This feast was afterwards called Pentecost by the Greeks and us, falling fifty days after the passover, Lev. 23:15, 16; Deut. 16:9; Acts 2:1. During the time of this feast, God gave the Ten Commandments, Exodus 19, and after He sent the Holy Ghost, at the same time of the year, upon His apostles, Acts 2.
28 Understand the wheat harvest here.
29 That is, of your fruit or corn, for the enjoying whereof you did labor, and till and husband the ground, and which God has bestowed upon you by your labor.
30 This feast came in the seventh month of the year, namely, in September, beginning on the fifteenth of that month, and lasting seven days. It is otherwise called, the feast of tabernacles, Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:13.
1731Three times in the year 32all thy males shall appear before 33the Lord GOD.
31 Namely, on the foresaid three solemn and festival times.
32 Unless they have some lawful impediment, as sickness, dotage, and other like infirmities or disabilities.
33 Which afterwards was the temple at Jerusalem, 1 Kings 14:21.
18Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice 34with leavened bread; neither shall the fat 35of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
34 That is, having any leavened bread in your house, Exod. 12:15.
35 That is, of the sacrifice of My feast, that is, of the lamb that was to be sacrificed.
1936Thel first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring 37into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shaltm not seethen a kid in his mother's milk.
36 Hebr. the beginning of the firstfruit.
l Exod. 34:26.
37 That is, into the tabernacle at first, 1 Chron. 9:19, 23, and afterwards into the temple at Jerusalem. See Deut. 26:1, 2, etc.
m Exod. 34:26.
n boil*
20¶Behold,o I send 38an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into 39the place which I have prepared.
o Exod. 33:2.
38 He is called in Exod. 13:21 the Lord, namely, Christ, Whom the Israelites provoked in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 10:9. He is called an Angel, that is to say, a Messenger, because He is sent by the Father.
39 Namely, into the land of Canaan.
21Beware of 40him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for 41my name is in him.
40 That is, by reason of His presence with you.
41 That is, He is true God together with Me, being likewise called Jehovah. See Jer. 23:6; John 10:30, 38; 2 Cor. 5:19, and Heb. 1:8; likewise compare John 14:10.
22But if thou shalt 42indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; thenp I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
42 Hebr. hearing hear in his voice.
p Gen. 12:3.
23For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in 43unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
43 That is, into the land of the Amorites, etc., and thus in the sequence.
24Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after theirq works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and 44quite break down their images.
q Lev. 18:3.
44 Hebr. stamping to stamp.
25And ye shall serve the LORD your God, andr he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
r Exod. 15:26; Deut. 7:15.
26¶Theres shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the 45number of thy days I will fulfil.
s Deut. 7:14.
45 Those (days, namely) which you, according to the course of nature, are to live; whereas the wicked man shall not live out half his days, Psalm 55:23.
27 It will send 46my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and 47I will make all thine enemies turn 48their backs unto thee.
t Exod. 14:24; Joshua 10:10.
46 That is, a great terror, or a terror which I Myself shall bring upon the nations. See examples hereof, Gen. 35:5; 1 Sam. 14:15; 2 Chron. 20:29.
47 Hebr. I will give all thine enemies the neck to thee-wards.
48 Hebr. neck.
28And Iu will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the 49Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
u Deut. 7:20; Joshua 24:12.
49 Understand herewith also the other nations which are mentioned in verse 23.
29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become 50desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
50 That is, destitute of inhabitants.
30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31Andv I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from 51the desert unto the 52river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
v Num. 34:3, 4.
51 Understand the wilderness of Sin, on the way to Egypt.
52 Understand here the river Euphrates.
32Thouw shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
w Exod. 34:12, 15; Deut. 7:2.
33Theyx 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.
x Joshua 23:13; Judges 2:3.