Exodus 23 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 7 Similar 13 Different 7 Divergent 5 Disparate 1
Disparate in this chapter: 23:7
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
Laws of Justice, Equity, and Mercy
23:1 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:1 You shall not spread a false report. Do not join hands with a wicked person to be a malicious witness.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:1 You shall not accept an empty report. Do not agree with an unjust person to become an unjust witness.
Hebrew can concern circulating a report; Greek explicitly concerns accepting it. Both reject corrupt testimony.
23:2 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:2 You shall not follow the many in doing evil, or testify in a dispute by siding with the many to pervert justice.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:2 You shall not join the majority in evil, or join a multitude in turning aside with the majority so as to exclude justice.
Both prohibit collective pressure from distorting judgment.
23:3 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:3 You shall not favor a poor person in his dispute.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:3 You shall not show partiality to a poor person in judgment.
Greek uses the verb for pity; in this judicial context, “partiality” expresses the prohibited action.
23:4 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:4 If you meet your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering, you shall surely return it to him.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:4 If you meet your enemy’s ox or beast of burden wandering, you shall turn it back and return it to him.
The obligation agrees; Greek uses the broader term “beast of burden.”
23:5 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying under its burden, do not leave him without help; you shall surely help release it with him.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:5 If you see your enemy’s beast of burden fallen under its load, you shall not pass it by; you shall help lift it with him.
The difficult Hebrew release/help idiom is rendered in context. Greek explicitly prohibits passing by and commands lifting together.
23:6 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:6 You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor person in his dispute.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:6 You shall not pervert a poor person’s judgment in his dispute.
23:7 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:7 Keep far from a false charge. Do not kill the innocent or righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:7 Keep away from every unjust charge. Do not kill the innocent or righteous, and do not acquit the ungodly for the sake of bribes.
Hebrew ends with God’s refusal to justify the wicked; Greek prohibits acquitting the impious for gifts. The legal declaration changes its agent and expressly introduces the bribery condition.
23:8 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:8 You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and distorts the words of the righteous.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:8 You shall not accept gifts, for gifts blind the eyes of those who see and corrupt righteous words.
“Gifts” has the contextual force of bribes here.
23:9 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:9 You shall not oppress a resident alien. You know the soul of the resident alien, for you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:9 You shall not afflict a resident alien, for you know the soul of the resident alien; you yourselves were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.
The shared “soul” idiom appeals to knowledge of the outsider’s experience. Proselytos does not by itself establish formal conversion here.
Sacred Times: The Sabbath and Annual Feasts
23:10 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce,
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce,
23:11 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:11 but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You shall do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:11 but in the seventh you shall grant it release and leave it, and the poor of your nation shall eat; the wild animals shall eat what remains. You shall do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.
Greek names “release”; the agricultural and social provisions agree.
23:12 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:12 For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:12 For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day there shall be rest, so that your ox and beast of burden may rest, and the son of your female slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.
RH distinguishes rest for the animals from refreshment for the slave’s son and the resident alien, corresponding to the differentiated Hebrew verbs.
23:13 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:13 Be careful concerning everything I have said to you. Do not mention the name of other gods or let it be heard from your mouth.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:13 Keep everything I have said to you. Do not call to mind the name of other gods or let it be heard from your mouth.
The prohibition is expressed through mentioning and calling to mind.
23:14 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:14 Three times a year you shall keep a feast to Me.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:14 Three times a year you shall keep a feast to Me.
23:15 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:15 You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of new grain, for in it you came out of Egypt. You shall not appear before Me empty-handed.
Greek expresses the agricultural sense of Abib as “new grain.”
23:16 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:16 You shall also keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor that you sow in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end, when you gather the fruit of your labor from the field.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest of the first produce of your labor that you sow in your field, and the Feast of Completion at the year’s end, when you gather the fruit of your labor from your field.
Greek “Completion” concerns the agricultural year here. A later eschatological application is not part of this clause’s literal wording.
23:17 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord YHWH.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God.
The divine title differs. [G23]
23:18 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, and the fat of My feast shall not remain until morning.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:18 For when I drive nations out before you and enlarge your borders, you shall not offer the blood of My offering with leaven, and the fat of My feast shall not remain until morning.
RH adds the opening promise about driving out nations and enlarging borders. Its θυσίασμα denotes a sacrificial offering here; the provisional incense-related form is superseded. [G23]
23:19 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:19 You shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your land into the house of YHWH your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:19 You shall bring the firstfruits of the first produce of your land into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk.
Hebrew names a young goat; Greek names a lamb. RH includes of your land. Rashi’s legal interpretation is retained in the following reception note.
Rabbinic reception: Rashi on 23:19 includes other young herd animals in gedi and relates the three repetitions of the prohibition to cooking, eating, and benefit. This is legal interpretation kept distinct from the source wording. [R23]
Obedience to the Lord
23:20 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:20 Look, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:20 Look, I am sending My angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you into the land I have prepared for you.
Greek says “My angel” and “the land … for you,” where Hebrew has an angel and a prepared place.
Rabbinic reception: Rashi distinguishes the plain sense of the prepared place from a midrashic reading relating the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries. [R23]
23:21 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:21 Pay attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, since My name is within him.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:21 Watch yourself and listen to him. Do not disobey him, for he will not yield before you, since My name is upon him.
The verbs for pardon and yielding differ, as do “within” and “upon.” [G23]
23:22 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:22 But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:22 If you truly listen to My voice, do everything I command you, and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured people above all the nations, for all the earth is Mine. You shall be a royal priesthood and a holy nation to Me. These are the words you shall speak to the sons of Israel. If you truly listen to My voice and do everything I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and oppose those who oppose you.
Greek includes a long covenant passage corresponding to 19:5–6, then repeats the obedience condition. It says “My voice” where Hebrew here says “his voice.” [G23]
23:23 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:23 For My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will cut them off.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:23 For My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will destroy them.
Greek includes the Girgashites. The different lists do not by themselves establish historical completeness.
23:24 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods, serve them, or follow their practices. You shall utterly overthrow them and completely break their sacred pillars.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods or serve them. You shall not follow their practices, but utterly overthrow them and completely break their pillars.
Both retain emphatic destruction language.
23:25 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:25 You shall serve YHWH your God, and He will bless your bread and water. I will remove sickness from among you.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread, wine, and water. I will turn sickness away from you.
Greek adds wine and uses “I will bless.” Eucharistic interpretation must remain distinct from this wording. [G23]
23:26 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:26 No one shall miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:26 No one shall be unfruitful or barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
Hebrew explicitly concerns miscarriage; Greek uses the broader “unfruitful.”
23:27 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:27 I will send My terror before you, throw into confusion all the people you encounter, and make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:27 I will send terror before you, throw into confusion all the nations you enter, and make all your adversaries fugitives.
Both describe panic and flight; Greek does not require “drive out” as the meaning of the confusion verb.
23:28 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:28 I will send hornets before you, and they will drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites from before you.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:28 I will send hornets ahead of you, and they will drive out the Amorites, Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites from before you.
Greek adds Amorites. RH continues the hornet as agent of expulsion; it does not assign that action to you.
23:29 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:29 I will not drive them out in one year, lest the land become desolate and the animals of the land multiply against you.
23:30 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you increase and inherit the land.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you increase and inherit the land.
23:31 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:31 I will set your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River. I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the great River Euphrates. I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and I will drive them out before you.
Greek identifies the Euphrates and assigns the final expulsion to God. “Sea of Reeds” and “Red Sea” retain the source designations. [G23]
23:32 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
23:33 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
23:33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. If you serve their gods, it will surely become a snare to you.
Greek · Saints priority
G 23:33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. If you serve their gods, these will become a stumbling block to you.
Hebrew has the image of a snare; Greek a stumbling block.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.