1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not receive the voice of a lie: neither shalt thou join thy hand to bear false witness for a wicked person.

Lie, by countenancing calumny. Judges must never do any thing which they know to be unjust, whatever the witnesses may assert. (Haydock)
Exodus 23:2 Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.
Exodus 23:3 Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in judgment.

Favour. Mercy would then be contrary to justice. (Psalm 71:2; St. Augustine q. 88.)
Exodus 23:4 *If thou meet thy enemy's ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.

Deuteronomy 22:1.
Exodus 23:5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him.
Exodus 23:6 Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man's judgment.
Exodus 23:7 Thou shalt fly lying.* The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the wicked.

Daniel 13:53.
Exodus 23:8 *Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just.

Deuteronomy 16:19.; Ecclesiasticus 20:31. 		Bribes, which naturally induce the receiver to shew favour, and therefore cannot be too carefully avoided. The Athenians put to death those who bribed the judges, and required the latter to restore ten-fold. (Calmet)
Exodus 23:9 Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: *for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Genesis 46:6. 		The hearts. You have experienced what sorrow and misery they feel. (Menochius)
Exodus 23:10 Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.
Exodus 23:11 *But the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard.

Leviticus 25:4. 		Year. Thus God was pleased to teach them to place entire confidence in him, and to compassionate the distress of the poor. Most people suppose, that the sabbatic year commenced in autumn; as otherwise the land would have remained without any harvest two years. This law began to be observed the 7th year after Josue crossed the Jordan. Jerusalem was thrice besieged during the sabbatic years. (Jeremias 34:8; 1 Machabees 6:51.) See Josephus, Antiquities 12:14.; Antiquities14:28. God blessed the 6th year, so that it produced as much as three, Leviticus 25:21. (Calmet) --- On the feast of tabernacles, (in September) at the beginning of the 7th year, Deuteronomy was to be read aloud to all the people, the Hebrew slaves might obtain their liberty, and if a person could not restore what he had borrowed, it was to be remitted for ever, Deuteronomy xv. and 31:10. (Tirinus)
Exodus 23:12 Six days thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest: and the son of thy hand-maid and the stranger may be refreshed.
Exodus 23:13 Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of strange gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth.

Name. Hence it is supposed, the Jews have given abusive titles to the idols; as they call Beelzebub the god-fly, etc. No respect was to be shewn to them. (Calmet)
Exodus 23:14 Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.

Three. Women are not here mentioned; but they are, Deuteronomy 31:12. Children under 13, were exempted from the obligation, according to the Caraites. Men from 20 to 60, not lawfully hindered, were bound to appear, Leviticus 27:3.
Exodus 23:15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. *Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Egypt: **thou shalt not appear empty before me.

Exodus 13:3.; Exodus 4. and 34:22. --- ** Deuteronomy 16:16.; Ecclesiasticus 35:6. 		Empty. But shalt offer something in sacrifice, and for the support of the Levites, freely, Deuteronomy 16:10. At the Passover, the first-fruits of barley were to be offered, as those of wheat would be ready at Pentecost. The third feast, was that of tabernacles, at the conclusion of the civil year. Presents were to be made to God, in testimony of their submission to him; as they were to the kings of the east, by their subjects. (Tavernier, Perse. 4:16.) See (1 Kings 10:27.; 1 Paralipomenon 18:2.) --- A sixtieth part of the fruits, at least, was carried to the temple. They consisted of wheat, barley, grapes, figs, apricots, olives, and dates. The king himself carried his basket, and when the solemn procession arrived at the temple, the Levites began to sing the Psalm xxix., I will extol thee, O Lord, etc. After which, the people repeated the words of Deuteronomy 26:3; and having given their baskets to the priests, (ver. 4,) recited parts of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th verses. (Calmet) --- God. Here the Septuagint add, "For when I shall have cast the Gentiles from before thy face, and extended thy limits."
Exodus 23:16 And the feast of the harvest of the first-fruits of thy work, whatsoever thou hast sown in the field. The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field.
Exodus 23:17 *Thrice a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.

Exodus 34:23.; Deuteronomy 16:16.
Exodus 23:18 Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of my solemnity remain until the morning.

Thou, etc. This has a reference to the feast of the Passover, ver. 15, (Onkelos) as well as the following verse. (Calmet)
Exodus 23:19 *Thou shalt carry the first-fruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. **Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

Exodus 34:26. --- ** Deuteronomy 14:21. 		Dam. The paschal victim must not be so young as to be still suckled. The Samaritan subjoins, "Because that would be like immolating an animal found dead, and the God of Jacob hates it." (Calmet) --- Some imagine that this law alludes to a superstitious custom of the pagans, (Spencer, Rit. 2:8,) or it forbids eating animals while they are, as it were, all milk, not eight days old. (Rivet)
Exodus 23:20 Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.

Angel; my only son. (Philo) --- St. Paul says, they tempted Jesus Christ, (1 Corinthians 10:9,) who is styled, the angel of the covenant, Malachias 3:1. Some apply this to Josue, others to St. Michael, who, from the cloud, conducted the army of Israel. (Calmet)
Exodus 23:21 Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him.

Forgive. Dimittet, as well as the Hebrew and Septuagint, may signify, "he will not abandon." (Haydock) --- My name. Moses, Josue, and still more our Saviour, acted in the name and by the authority of God the Father.
Exodus 23:22 *But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

Deuteronomy 7:11.
Exodus 23:23 *And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hevite, and the Jebuzite[Jebusite?], whom I will destroy.

Exodus 33:2.; Josue 24:11.; Deuteronomy 7:22.
Exodus 23:24 Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues.
Exodus 23:25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, that I may bless your bread and your waters, and may take away sickness from the midst of thee.

Waters, or all things necessary for your sustenance.
Exodus 23:26 There shall not be one fruitless nor barren in thy land: I will fill the number of thy days.

Fruitless. Hebrew may also be, "miscarrying." --- Days. An untimely death was a judgment of God on the wicked, though sometimes he chooses to draw his elect quickly out of this dangerous world, Wisdom 4:11.
Exodus 23:27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee:

Destroy. Hebrew, "fill with consternation."
Exodus 23:28 *Sending out hornets before, that shall drive away the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, before thou come in.

Deuteronomy 7:20. 		Hornets, or wasps, Wisdom 12:8. Josue (xxiv. 12) assures us this was verified. Thus scorpions forced the Ethiopians to abandon their country; and flies and wasps drove away the Mysians and Phaselides. See Bochart, 4:13. The latter people were of Phoenician extraction, and probably fled before Josue. Most of the Chanaanites withdrew into Africa; some perhaps into America. (Calmet)
Exodus 23:29 I will not cast them out from thy face in one year; lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and the beasts multiply against thee.

Beasts. Herod the great killed many in hunting. (Josephus, Jewish Wars 1:16.) Two bears rushed upon the children, 4 Kings 2:24. How much would they have increased in all the countries from the Euphrates to the Nile, had they been destitute of any other inhabitants but the Hebrews, (Calmet) many of whom perished in the desert!
Exodus 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land.
Exodus 23:31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you.
Exodus 23:32 *Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods.

Exodus 34:15.; Deuteronomy 7:2.
Exodus 23:33 Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps they make thee sin against me, if thou serve their gods; which, undoubtedly, will be a scandal to thee.

Scandal. If you have any society with these nations, it will turn to your ruin, which was but too literally manifested afterwards.