Éxodo 23

VBL · Chapter 23/40

1“No ayudes a difundir historias que son mentiras. No ayudes a la gente mala dando mal testimonio.

2“No sigas a la multitud haciendo el mal. Cuando testifiques en un juicio, no corrompas la justicia poniéndote del lado de la mayoría.

3Tampoco muestres favoritismo hacia los pobres en sus casos legales.

4“Si te encuentras con el buey o asno de tu enemigo que se ha extraviado, devuélveselo.

5Si ves el asno de alguien que te odia y que ha caído porel peso de su carga, no lo dejes ahí. Debes detenerte y ayudarle.

6“No debes impedir que los pobres obtengan justicia en sus demandas.

7No tengas nada que ver con hacer falsas acusaciones. No maten a los inocentes ni a los que hacen el bien, porque no dejaré que los culpables queden impunes.

8“No aceptes sobornos, porque un soborno ciega a los que pueden ver y socava las pruebas de los honestos.

9“No abusen de los extranjeros que viven entre ustedes, pues ustedes saben muy bien lo que es ser extranjeros, ya que una vez fueron extranjeros en Egipto.

10“Seis años deben sembrar la tierra y cosechar los cultivos,

11pero en el séptimo año deben dejarla descansar y dejarla sin cultivar, para que los pobres puedan comer lo que crece naturalmente en el campo y los animales salvajes puedan terminar lo que queda. Sigan el mismo procedimiento para sus viñedos y olivares.

12“Tendrán seis días para hacer su trabajo, pero el séptimo día deben dejar de trabajar, para que su buey y su asno puedan descansar, y las familias de sus esclavos puedan recuperar el aliento, así como los extranjeros que viven entre ustedes.

13“Asegúrate de prestar atención a todo lo que te he dicho. Que no pase por tu mente invocar el nombre de otros dioses, ni siquiera debes mencionarlos.

14“Tres veces al año celebrarán una fiesta dedicada a mí.

15Deben observar el Festival de los Panes sin Levadura como se los he instruído. Deben comer pan sin levadura durante siete días en el momento apropiado en el mes de Abib, porque ese fue el mes en que saliste de Egipto. Nadie puede venir delante mí sin traer una ofrenda.

16“Y también observarán el Festival de las Cosechas cuando presenten las primicias de los productos de lo que hayan sembrado en los campos. Por último, deben observar el Festival de la Cosecha al final del año, cuando recojan la cosecha del resto de tus cultivos en el campo.

17Todo varón israelita debe presentarse ante el Señor Dios en estas tres ocasiones cada año.

18“No ofrecerán la sangre de mis sacrificios junto con nada que contenga levadura, y la grasa de las ofrendas presentadas en mi festival no debe dejarse hasta la mañana.

19“Traigan las mejores primicias de sus cosechas a la casa del Señor su Dios. No cocinarán a un cabrito en la leche de su madre.

20“Yo envío un ángel delante de ti para que te proteja en el camino y te lleve al lugar que te he preparado.

21Asegúrate de prestarle atención y hacer lo que te diga. No te opongas a él, porque no perdonará la rebelión, pues lleva mi autoridad.

22“Sin embargo, si le escuchas atentamente y haces todo lo que te digo, entonces seré enemigo de tus enemigos y lucharé contra los que luchan contra ti.

23Porque mi ángel irá delante de ti y te llevará a la tierra de los amorreos, hititas, ferezeos, cananeos, heveos y jebuseos, y los aniquilaré.

24No debes inclinarte ante sus dioses ni adorarlos, ni seguir sus prácticas paganas. Más bien destruirás sus ídolos y derribarás sus altares.

25“Adorarás al Señor tu Dios, y él bendecirá tu comida y tu agua. Me aseguraré de que ninguno de ustedes se enferme.

26Ninguna mujer tendrá un aborto espontáneo ni se quedará sin hijos. Me aseguraré de que vivan una larga vida.

27“Enviaré un terror sobre mí delante de ustedes que hará que todas las naciones que los conozcan entren en pánico. Haré que todos sus enemigos se den la vuelta y huyan.

28Y enviaré avispones delante de ti para expulsar a los heveos, cananeos e hititas.

29No los expulsaré en un año, porque la tierra se volvería desolada y tendrías que enfrentarte a un mayor número de animales salvajes.

30Poco a poco los expulsaré delante de ti, hasta que haya suficientes para tomar posesión de la tierra.

31“Fijaré sus fronteras desde el Mar Rojo hasta el Mar de los Filisteos, y desde el desierto hasta el río Éufrates. Te entregaré los habitantes de la tierra y tú los expulsarás.

32No debes hacer ningún acuerdo con ellos ni con sus dioses.

33No se les debe permitir permanecer en tu tierra, de lo contrario te llevarán a pecar contra mí. Porque si adoras a sus dioses, definitivamente se convertirán en una trampa para ti”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Laws are given regarding impartial justice, the land's rest every seven years, the observance of the Sabbath and the three annual feasts, and the promise that an angel will guide Israel to drive out the peoples of Canaan.

Explanation

This chapter concludes the so-called 'Book of the Covenant' with a series of instructions balancing social justice, periodic rest, and regular communal worship. The emphasis on not following the crowd to do evil, nor unfairly favoring the poor or the powerful in a legal dispute (v. 2-3), shows a commitment to judicial impartiality that resists both popular pressure and reverse favoritism. The principle of the sabbatical year, letting the land rest every seven years so that the poor could eat what grew on its own, demonstrates a vision that was both ecologically and socially advanced for its time. The three mandatory annual feasts (Unleavened Bread, Harvest/Weeks, and Ingathering/Tabernacles) structured Israel's religious calendar around moments of collective gratitude. The chapter closes with the promise of a gradual conquest of the promised land, warning that it would happen 'little by little' so that the land would not become a wasteland for lack of enough inhabitants.

Fun facts

  • The principle of the land's sabbatical year (every seven years) would be expanded centuries later in the Law of Moses to include the Year of Jubilee every 50 years (Leviticus 25), a complete system of economic rest and redistribution that few ancient civilizations attempted to implement in such a structured way.
  • The promise of the gradual expulsion of the peoples of Canaan, 'little by little... until thou be increased' (v. 29-30), shows a strategic and realistic approach, acknowledging the practical limitations of Israel itself, rather than promising an instant, complete conquest.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Éxodo 23:1Forbids spreading false rumors and joining with a dishonest person to give false testimony, protecting the integrity of judicial proceedings in Israel.
  2. Éxodo 23:2Here the subject is testifying in a trial: it is not acceptable to lie or distort the facts just because that is what the majority is saying. Group pressure is no excuse for a witness to misrepresent what they saw.
  3. Éxodo 23:3Complements the previous prohibition against favoring the rich: even the poor should not receive special treatment in a trial, justice must be impartial.
  4. Éxodo 23:4Determines that even the stray animal of a personal enemy must be returned, showing that obligations of good neighborliness hold regardless of rivalries.
  5. Éxodo 23:5The law calls for helping even the animal of a personal enemy, if it has collapsed under the weight of its load. The idea is that the animal’s welfare and practical help cannot depend on who is someone’s friend or enemy.
  6. Éxodo 23:6Repeats the principle of impartiality, this time warning against distorting judgment against the poor, the opposite of the risk mentioned in verse 3.
  7. Éxodo 23:7Forbids both lying and condemning an innocent person, making clear that God will not validate an unjust sentence, even if human judges err.
  8. Éxodo 23:8Forbids bribes, because money handed to a judge corrupts his judgment, even if the person considers himself upright enough to resist it.
  9. Éxodo 23:9Repeats the prohibition against oppressing foreigners, already seen in chapter 22, reinforcing that the Israelites themselves knew that experience well from Egypt.
  10. Éxodo 23:10Introduces the law of the sabbatical year: six years of normal cultivation of the land before the rest period explained in the next verse.
  11. Éxodo 23:11Every seven years, the land had to rest, with no planting or organized harvest. Whatever grew on its own that year was left for the poor to gather freely, and whatever remained was left for the wild animals to eat.
  12. Éxodo 23:12Repeats the commandment of the weekly sabbath, but highlights here the practical benefit also for working animals and for the household’s servants and foreigners.
  13. Éxodo 23:13Closes this section of laws with a general reminder: no other god should even be mentioned by the people, returning to the first commandment.
  14. Éxodo 23:14Introduces the calendar of mandatory feasts, going on to detail the three annual celebrations that every Israelite man had to keep.
  15. Éxodo 23:15This is part of the instruction about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, one of the three annual feasts at which every Israelite man had to appear at the sanctuary. “None shall appear before me empty” means each person had to bring some offering along, in proportion to what he had, and not come to the celebration empty-handed.
  16. Éxodo 23:16Describes the other two annual feasts: the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits, in the middle of the agricultural year, and the feast of the final ingathering, at the end of the year.
  17. Éxodo 23:17Summarizes the obligation: three times a year, every Israelite man had to appear physically before God at the sanctuary for these feasts.
  18. Éxodo 23:18Regulates technical details of the sacrifices: the blood could not be offered together with leavened bread, and the fat of the offering could not be kept until the next day.
  19. Éxodo 23:19This short line later gave rise to the Jewish rule against mixing meat and milk in the same meal. In its original context, it likely forbade a ritual custom of the neighboring religions, cooking a young goat in its own mother’s milk as part of a fertility rite, though scholars are not entirely certain of the exact origin of the custom being forbidden.
  20. Éxodo 23:20God promises to send an angel to guide and protect the people throughout the journey to the promised land, a figure who appears again at other points in the book.
  21. Éxodo 23:21The “angel” mentioned in the previous verses had the authority to represent God before the people, guiding them along the way. The text explains that this angel acted invested with God’s own authority, which is why disobeying him carried the same weight as disobeying God directly.
  22. Éxodo 23:22Makes the promised protection conditional on obedience: if the people follow the angel’s voice, God promises to act against Israel’s enemies as if they were His own enemies.
  23. Éxodo 23:23The angel will lead the people directly against the inhabitants of Canaan, listing the same peoples mentioned in other promises of the land throughout the book.
  24. Éxodo 23:24Forbids any form of worship of these peoples’ gods and demands the complete destruction of their religious statues, preventing foreign religious influence.
  25. Éxodo 23:25Promises concrete blessings in exchange for faithfulness: plentiful food and protection from disease, linking obedience to physical well-being within that covenant context.
  26. Éxodo 23:26Continues the list of practical blessings: guaranteed fertility and long life for whoever faithfully kept this covenant.
  27. Éxodo 23:27Promises that fear itself, spread among the enemy peoples, would make the conquest of the land easier, causing them to flee even before a direct confrontation.
  28. Éxodo 23:28“Hornets” are wasps: the text promises that swarms of these insects would help drive out the peoples living in the promised land before Israel’s arrival. It can be read literally, as an actual insect attack, or as an image of panic spread among the enemies; scholars read this detail both ways.
  29. Éxodo 23:29Explains why the conquest of the land would not happen all at once: driving out all the peoples too quickly would leave the land empty and vulnerable to wild animals.
  30. Éxodo 23:30The gradual conquest serves a practical purpose: giving Israel’s own people time to grow enough to occupy the entire conquered territory.
  31. Éxodo 23:31Defines the future borders of the promised land, from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines and from the desert to the river Euphrates, an extent much larger than Israel actually occupied.
  32. Éxodo 23:32Forbids any kind of formal covenant with the peoples of Canaan or with their gods, avoiding any commitment that would blend the two religious cultures.
  33. Éxodo 23:33Justifies the previous prohibition: allowing these peoples to keep living there would pose a constant risk of Israel itself being led to worship other gods.

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