23 “You are not to repeat false rumors; do not join hands with the wicked by offering perjured testimony. ² Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don’t allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice. ³ On the other hand, don’t favor a person’s lawsuit simply because he is poor.

⁴ “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey straying, you must return it to him. ⁵ If you see the donkey which belongs to someone who hates you lying down helpless under its load, you are not to pass him by but to go and help him free it.

(v) ⁶ “Do not deny anyone justice in his lawsuit simply because he is poor. ⁷ Keep away from fraud, and do not cause the death of the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked. ⁸ You are not to receive a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clearsighted and subverts the cause of the righteous.

⁹ “You are not to oppress a foreigner, for you know how a foreigner feels, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ “For six years, you are to sow your land with seed and gather in its harvest. ¹¹ But the seventh year, you are to let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people can eat; and what they leave, the wild animals in the countryside can eat. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

¹² “For six days, you are to work. But on the seventh day, you are to rest, so that your ox and donkey can rest, and your slave-girl’s son and the foreigner be renewed.

¹³ “Pay attention to everything I have said to you; do not invoke the names of other gods or even let them be heard crossing your lips.

¹⁴ “Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. ¹⁵ Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. ¹⁶ Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts. ¹⁷ Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, Adonai.

¹⁸ “You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the fat of my festival to remain all night until morning.

¹⁹ “You are to bring the best firstfruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young animal in its mother’s milk.

(vi) ²⁰ “I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹ Pay attention to him, listen to what he says and do not rebel against him; because he will not forgive any wrongdoing of yours, since my name resides in him. ²² But if you listen to what he says and do everything I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. ²³ When my angel goes ahead of you and brings you to the Emori, Hitti, P’rizi, Kena‘ani, Hivi and Y’vusi, I will make an end of them. ²⁴ You are not to worship their gods, serve them or follow their practices; rather, you are to demolish them completely and smash their standing-stones to pieces.

²⁵ “You are to serve Adonai your God; and he will bless your food and water. I will take sickness away from among you. (vii) ²⁶ In your land your women will not miscarry or be barren, and you will live out the full span of your lives. ²⁷ I will send terror of me ahead of you, throwing into confusion all the people to whom you come; and I will make all your enemies turn their backs on you. ²⁸ I will send hornets ahead of you to drive out the Hivi, Kena‘ani and Hitti from before you. ²⁹ I will not drive them out from before you in one year, which would cause the land to become desolate and the wild animals too many for you. ³⁰ I will drive them out from before you gradually, until you have grown in number and can take possession of the land. ³¹ I will set your boundaries from the Sea of Suf to the sea of the P’lishtim and from the desert to the [Euphrates] River, for I will hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out from before you. ³² You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ They are not to live in your land; otherwise they will make you sin against me by ensnaring you to serve their gods.”

24 To Moshe [Adonai] said, “Come up to Adonai — you, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the leaders of Isra’el. Prostrate yourselves at a distance, ² while Moshe alone approaches Adonai — the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.” ³ Moshe came and told the people everything Adonai had said, including all the rulings. The people answered with one voice: “We will obey every word Adonai has spoken.”

⁴ Moshe wrote down all the words of Adonai. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the base of the mountain and set upright twelve large stones to represent the twelve tribes of Isra’el. ⁵ He sent the young men of the people of Isra’el to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings of oxen to Adonai. ⁶ Moshe took half of the blood and put it in basins; the other half of the blood he splashed against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud, so that the people could hear; and they responded, “Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do and obey.” ⁸ Moshe took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which Adonai has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and seventy of the leaders went up; ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Isra’el. Under his feet was something like a sapphire stone pavement as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ He did not reach out his hand against these notables of Isra’el; on the contrary, they saw God, even as they were eating and drinking.

¹² Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.” ¹³ Moshe got up, also Y’hoshua his assistant; and Moshe went up onto the mountain of God. ¹⁴ To the leaders he said, “Stay here for us, until we come back to you. See, Aharon and Hur are with you; whoever has a problem should turn to them.” (S: Maftir) ¹⁵ Moshe went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. (A: Maftir) ¹⁶ The glory of Adonai stayed on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moshe out of the cloud. ¹⁷ To the people of Isra’el the glory of Adonai looked like a raging fire on the top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Moshe entered the cloud and went up on the mountain; he was on the mountain forty days and nights.

Haftarah Mishpatim: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 34:8–22; 33:25–26

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Mishpatim: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:38–42; 15:1–20; Mark 7:1–23; Acts 23:1–11; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 9:15–22; 10:28–39