Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus Reader

And the stranger you shall not vex with words, nor distress him by taking his goods: Remember, sons of Israel, My people, that you were strangers in the land of Mizraim.

If thou impoverish her, beware; for if they rise up and cry against you in prayer before Me, I will hear the voice of their prayer, and will avenge them,

If thou lend money to (one of) My people, to (one of) the humble of My people, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither lay it upon him that there shall be witnesses against him, or that he give pledges, or equivalents, or usury.

for it may be his taleth which alone covereth him; (or) it is his only garment in which he rests, which falleth upon his skin; and if thou take the coverlet of the bed whereon he lies, and he be heard before Me, I will hearken to his prayer; for I am Eloah the Merciful.

The firsts of thy fruits, and the firsts of thy wine-press, thou shalt not delay to bring up in their time to the place of My habitation. The firstlings of thy males thou shalt separate before Me.

So shalt thou do with the firstlings of thy oxen and sheep; seven days it shall be suckled by its mother, and on the eighth day thou shalt separate it before Me.

And holy men, tasting unconsecrated things innocently, shall you be before Me; but flesh torn by wild beasts alive you may not eat, but throw it to the dog as his portion.

Sons of Israel My people, take not up lying words from a man who accuseth his neighbour before thee, nor put thine hand with the wicked to become a false witness.

Sons of Israel My people, you shall not go after the many to do evil, but to do good; and no one among you shall restrain himself from affirming justly concerning his neighbour in the judgment, by saying, Behold, the judgment sides with the many.

And to the poor man who is guilty in his cause, thou shalt not be partial in having compassion upon him; for there must not be respect of persons in judgment.

If thou meet the ox of thine enemy whom thou dislikest on account of the wickedness which thou only knowest is in him, or an ass that wandereth from the way, thou shalt surely bring it to him.

If thou seest the ass of thy enemy whom thou dislikest on account of the wickedness which thou only knowest to be in him, lying under his burden, and thou wouldst refrain thyself from going near him, thou shalt relinquish at once the dislike of thy heart against (thy enemy), and release and take care of the ass (or, charge thyself with him).

From a false matter keep distant. And when one hath gone forth from thy house of justice acquitted, and they (afterwards) find out his guilt; or one hath been brought out condemned, and they (afterward) find out his innocence,-­thou shalt not put him to death; for I will not hold (the former) innocent, nor the latter guilty.

And thou mayest not receive a bribe; for a bribe blindeth their eyes who have taken it, and casteth down the wise from their seats, and perverteth the right words which are written in the law, and confoundeth the words that are in the mouth of the innocent in the hour of judgment.

but the seventh year thou shalt exempt it from labour, and give up the fruit of it to be eaten by the poor of My people; and what they leave shall be eaten by the beasts of the field. And in like manner shalt thou do with thy vine and olive grounds.

Six days do thy work, and on the seventh day repose, that thy ox and thy ass may rest, and that the uncircumcised son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may rest.

And of all the precepts that I have spoken to you, be carefull; and the names of the idols of the Gentiles remember not, nor let them be heard upon your lips.

The feast of unleavened cakes thou shalt keep. Seven days thou art to eat unleavened bread, as I have instructed thee, in the time of the month of Abiba, because in it thou camest forth from Mizraim; and you shall not appear before Me empty.

And the feast of the harvest first-fruits of the work thou didst sow in the field; and the feast of gathering, at the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy work from the field.

Sons of Israel My people, while there is leaven in your houses you may not immolate the bloody sacrifice of My Pascha; nor shall the fat of the sacrifice of My Pascha remain without the altar until morning, nor of the flesh that you eat in the evening.

The first of the choice fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring to the sanctuary of the Lord thy God. My people of the house of Israel, you are not permitted to dress or to eat of flesh and milk mingled together, lest I be greatly displeased; and I prepare you the wheat and the straw together for your food.

Be circumspect before Him, and obey His word, and be not rebellious against His words; for He will not forgive your sins, because His word is in My Name.

For if thou wilt indeed hearken to His Word, and do all that I speak by Him, I will be the enemy of thy enemy, and will trouble them who trouble thee.

Thou shalt not worship their idols, nor serve them, nor do after their evil works; but thou shalt utterly demolish the house of their worship, and break the statues of their images.

And you shall do service before the Lord our God and He will bless the provision of thy food and thy drinks, and remove the bitter plague from among thee.

My terror will I send before thee, and will perturb all the peoples to whom thou comest, that thou mayest wage battle against them; and I will make all thy enemies turn back before thee.

I will not expel them before thee in one year, lest the land become a wilderness, and the beasts of the field multiply upon thee, when they come to eat their carcasses, and injure thee.

And I will set thy boundary from the sea of Suph, to the sea of the Philistaee, and from the desert unto the Pherat; for I will deliver into your hand all the inhabitants of the land, and thou shalt drive them out from before thee.

Thou shalt not let them dwell in thy land, lest they cause thee to err, and to sin before Me, when thou dost worship their idols; for they will be a stumbling-block to thee.

And Michael, the Prince of Wisdom, said to Mosheh on the seventh day of the month, Come up before the Lord, thou and Aharon, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance.

And Mosheh came and set before the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.

And Mosheh wrote the words of the Lord, and arose in the morning and builded an altar at the lower part of the mountain; and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

And he sent the firstborn of the sons of Israel,-for until that hour had the firstborn had the (office of performing) worship, the tabernacle of ordinance not (as yet) being made, nor the priesthood given unto Aharon; and they offered burnt offerings and consecrated oblations of oxen before the Lord.

And he took the Book of the Covenant of the Law and read before the people; and they said, All the words which the Lord hath spoken we will perform and obey.

And Mosheh took half of the blood which was in the basins, and sprinkled upon the altar, to expiate the people, and said, Behold, this is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you upon all these words.

And Nadab and Abihu lifted up their eyes, and saw the glory of the God of Israel; and under the footstool of His feet which was placed beneath His throne, was like the work of sapphire stone a memorial of the servitude with which the Mizraee had made the children of Israel to serve in clay and bricks, (what time) there were women treading clay with their husbands; the delicate young woman with child was also there, and made abortive by being beaten down with the clay. And thereof did Gabriel, descending, make brick, and, going up to the heavens on high, set it, a footstool under the cathedra of the Lord of the world whose splendour was as the work of a precious stone, and as the power of the beauty of the heavens when they are clear from clouds.

But upon Nadab and Abihu, the comely young men, was the stroke not sent in that hour, but it awaited them on the eighth day for a retribution to destroy them; but they saw the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord, and rejoiced that their oblations were received with favour, [as if they] did eat and drink.

And the Lord said to Mosheh, Ascend before Me at the mount, and I will there give thee the tables of stone on which I have set forth the rest of the words of the Law, and the six hundred and thirteen precepts which I have written for their instruction.

And the glory of the Lord's Shekinah abode upon the mountain of Sinai, and the Cloud of Glory covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Mosheh from the midst of the Cloud.

And the appearance of the splendour of the glory of the Lord was as burning fire with flashes of devouring fire; and the sons of Israel beheld and were awe-struck.