Discovery BoxExodus 23:7 
Context23:7 Keep your distance 1 from a false charge 2 – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, 3 for I will not justify the wicked. 4
Exodus 23:21
Context23:21 Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name 5 is in him.
1 tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”
2 tn Heb “a false matter,” this expression in this context would have to be a case in law that was false or that could only be won by falsehood.
3 tn The two clauses probably should be related: the getting involved in the false charge could lead to the death of an innocent person (so, e.g., Naboth in 1 Kgs 21:10-13).
4 sn God will not declare right the one who is in the wrong. Society should also be consistent, but it cannot see the intents and motives, as God can.
5 sn This means “the manifestation of my being” is in him (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 247). Driver quotes McNeile as saying, “The ‘angel’ is Jehovah Himself ‘in a temporary descent to visibility for a special purpose.’” Others take the “name” to represent Yahweh’s “power” (NCV) or “authority” (NAB, CEV).
