World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 10
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said to , "Go in to , for I have hardened and of his servants, that I may show these my signs among them; and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son's son, what things I have done to , and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am ." and went in to , and said to him, "This is what , the of the , says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may me. Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring into your country, and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one won't be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the , as neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.'" He turned, and went out from . servants said to him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may , their . Don't you yet know that is destroyed?" and were brought again to , and he said to them, "Go, your ; but who are those who will go?" said, "We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds; for we must hold a feast to ." He said to them, " be with you if I let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces. Not so! Go now you who are men, and ; for that is what you !" Then they were driven out from . said to , "Stretch out your hand over the land of for the , that they may come up on the land of , and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left." stretched out his over the land of , and brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the . The went up over all the land of , and rested in all the borders of . They were very grievous. Before them there were no such as they, nor will there ever be again. For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of . Then called for and in haste, and he said, "I have against your , and against you. Now therefore please forgive my again, and to your , that he may also take away from me this ." went out from , and to . sent an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the , and drove them into . There remained not one in all the borders of . But hardened , and he didn't let the go. said to , "Stretch out your hand toward , that there may be over the land of , even which may be felt." stretched out his hand toward , and there was a thick in all the land of for three days. They didn't see one another, and nobody rose from his place for three days; but all the had in their dwellings. called to , and said, "Go, . Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you." said, "You must also give into our hand and burnt offerings, that we may to our . Our livestock also shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, for of it we must take to our ; and we don't know with what we must , until we come there." But hardened , and he wouldn't let them go. said to him, "Get away from me! Be careful to see no more; for in the day you see you shall !" said, "You have spoken well. I will see your again no more."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Egypt and Sinai, 1450 BC to 1200 BC ›
Israel in and then out of Egypt, at a period when Egypt was an imperial power that also controlled Canaan. The nation is formed as a people with a law before it has any land.
- Egypt
- The New Kingdom at its imperial peak, with a professional army, a chariot corps, and control reaching up through Canaan. Ramesses II reigns for sixty-six years and covers the country in monuments to himself. Egyptian power in this period is the reason Canaan is garrisoned rather than free.
- The Hittites
- The other superpower, in what is now Turkey, and Egypt's rival for the Levant. The two fight the largest chariot battle of the ancient world at Kadesh, then sign a treaty whose text survives from both sides. Hittite treaty form, with its historical prologue, stipulations, witnesses, blessings, and curses, is the shape the Sinai covenant takes, which is one of the stronger arguments for the antiquity of that material.
- The Aegean
- Mycenaean Greece: warrior kings in stone citadels at Mycenae and Pylos, keeping palace accounts in Linear B. The world of the Trojan War stories, whatever lies behind them.
- Further afield
- The Shang dynasty in China is casting extraordinary bronzes and writing questions to its ancestors on ox bones. In Mesoamerica the Olmec are beginning the first civilisation of the Americas.