12aSix days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.
13 “And in all that I have said to you, abe circumspect and bmake no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.
Three Annual Feasts
14a“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
15aYou shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; bnone shall appear before Me empty);
16aand bthe Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in thefruitof your labors from the field.
17a“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord1God.
18a“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with bleavened bread; nor shall the fat of My1 sacrifice remain until morning.
19aThe first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. bYou shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
The Angel and the Promises
20a“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; ado not provoke Him, for He will bnot pardon your transgressions; for cMy name is in Him.
22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then aI will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23aFor My Angel will go before you and bbring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.
24 You shall not abow down to their gods, nor serve them, bnor do according to their works; cbut you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
25 “So you shall aserve the Lord your God, and bHe will bless your bread and your water. And cI will take sickness away from the midst of you.
26aNo one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will bfulfill the number of your days.
27 “I will send aMy fear before you, I will bcause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28 And aI will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.
29aI will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
Three times . . . keep a feast . . . in the year—This was the institution of the great religious festivals—"The feast of unleavened bread," or the passover—"the feast of harvest," or pentecost—"the feast of ingathering," or the feast of tabernacles, which was a memorial of the dwelling in booths in the wilderness, and which was observed in the seventh month (Exodus 12:2). All the males were enjoined to repair to the tabernacle and afterwards the temple, and the women frequently went. The institution of this national custom was of the greatest importance in many ways: by keeping up a national sense of religion and a public uniformity in worship, by creating a bond of unity, and also by promoting internal commerce among the people. Though the absence of all the males at these three festivals left the country defenseless, a special promise was given of divine protection, and no incursion of enemies was ever permitted to happen on those occasions.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Exodus 23:14:
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