The closing chapter of Israel’s covenant code delivers justice laws, sabbatical rest, three sacred feasts, and a guardian angel pledged to lead the nation into Canaan.
Full sung version coming soon.
Lyrics
You shall not spread a false report Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness You shall not follow a crowd to do evil
You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude To pervert justice You shall not favour a poor man in his cause If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray
You shall surely bring it back to him again If 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
You shall not deny justice to your poor people In their lawsuits Keep far from a false charge And don’t kill the innocent and righteous
For I will not justify the wicked You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight And perverts the words of the righteous You shall not oppress an alien
For you know the heart of an alien Since you were aliens in the land of Egypt For six years you shall sow your land And shall gather in its increase
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 animal of the field shall eat 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 Be careful to do all things that I have said to you And don’t invoke the name of other gods
You shall observe a feast to me three times a year You 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
Behold, I send an angel before you To keep you by the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared Pay 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 But 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
Listen
Exodus 23 sung by Psalm Selah. The whole Bible, one chapter at a time.