Welcome to my Hebrew reading & language series.

Exodus 23:1-7

We are in a new chapter today, but the commandments are flowing as if there were no chapter breaks. There were not any way back when. We left off with the order not to eat animals that you find dead. Give that meat to the dogs. We continue today with false reports, collusion, perversion of justice and bribes. Let's read and count them.

It is not allowed to bring a false report. You cannot 'join hands' with an evil person in order to be a witness of hamas (malice). Yes, the Hebrew word Hamas (pronounced with a strong H - more like a J in Spanish), usually translated as "violence" and this is the first time I have seen the same word meaning "malice". Taking that into consideration, Israel is trying to disarm Violence in Gaza right now - today.

Continuing on. You are not allowed to fall in line with many to do evil. You cannot bear false witness with the many to pervert justice. Nor can you be partial to the poor man in his law suit. There is a lot in these relatively short commands and they remind me of some of the shady deals that are the norm in our federal government. Elohim (God) is leaving out "money laundering" but I am sure he will get to that as we keep reading, though not today.

If you run into a friend's ox or donkey... Oh, wait. It really says, "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him." It continues, If you see the donkey of the person that hates you laying down under its load, you shall rescue it and its burden and bring it back to him.

You shall not pervert justice to your poor in his law suit. Keep far from a false charge, an do not kill the innocent and righteous -- then Elohim tells us that he will not acquit the wicked. Again, I am reminded of Vince Foster and Seth Rich as two examples of people who were killed for trying to do the right thing.

I counted the detailed commands and conditions adding ten to our strict list and five were added to the general list.

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Counting the rules past 'ten'.
Our General list is up to 59.
And our Strict list is at 135.

Today's Reading

English

"You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit."

"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him."

"You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked."

Hebrew

Next week, sojourners and shabbat years...

Info on each letter starting at the beginning

If you are just starting, my lessons are all here starting at Alef, adding vowels (the dots and lines) as we go. I explain the meaning of each letter and its numerical value. Just go to my blog and scroll to the bottom or click here.

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Thanks for reading.

Shabbat Shalom