World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 12
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1 spoke to and in the land of , saying, "This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man , according to their fathers' houses, for a household; 4and if the household is too little for , then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the . You shall make your count for according to what everyone can eat. Your lamb shall be , a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole of of Israel shall kill it at evening. They shall take some of , and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it. They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with , with . They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Don't eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with ; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. You shall let nothing of it until the morning; but that which of it until the morning you shall burn with . This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your on your feet, and your in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is . For I will go through the land of in that night, and will strike all in the land of , both man and animal. I will execute judgments against all the gods of . I am . shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see , I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of . This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to . You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an . "'Seven days you shall eat ; even the first day you shall out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that from Israel. In the first day there shall be to you a convocation, and in the seventh day a convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, only that may be done by you. You shall observe the feast of ; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of . Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an . In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat , until the twenty first day of the month at evening. There shall be no found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that from of Israel, whether he is a , or one who is born in the land. 20You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat .'" Then called for all the , and said to them, "Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill . You shall take a bunch of , and dip it in that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For will pass through to strike the ; and when he sees on the lintel, and on the two door posts, will pass over the door, and will not allow to come in to your houses to strike you. You shall observe this thing for an to you and to your sons . It shall happen when you have come to the land which will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this . It will happen, when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this ?' that you shall say, 'It is the of , who passed over the houses of the in , when he struck the , and spared our houses.'" The people bowed their heads and . The went and did so; as had commanded and , so they did. At midnight, struck all in the land of , from of who sat on his to of the who was in the dungeon, and all of livestock. rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the ; and there was a great cry in , for there was not a house where there was not one . He called for and by night, and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the ; and go, , as you have said! Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and me also!" The were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We are all men." The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. The did according to the word of ; and they asked of the jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing. gave the people in the sight of the , so that they let them have what they asked. They plundered the . The traveled from to , about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, in addition to children. A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much livestock. They baked cakes of the dough which they brought out of ; for it wasn't leavened, because they were thrust out of , and couldn't wait, and they had not prepared any food for themselves. Now the time that the lived in was four hundred thirty years. At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day, all of armies went out from the land of . It is a night to be much observed to for bringing them out from the land of . This is that night of , to be much observed by all the throughout their generations. said to and , "This is the of . No shall eat of it, but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have him, then shall he eat of it. A and a hired servant shall not eat of it. It must be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. All of Israel shall keep it. When a lives as a with you, and would like to keep to , let all his males be , and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no person shall eat of it. One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the who lives as a among you." All the did so. As commanded and , so they did. That same day, brought the out of the land of by their armies.
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.