World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 22
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"If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no of bloodshed for him. If the sun has on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall . If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. "If a man causes a field or to be eaten by letting his animal loose, and it grazes in another man's field, he shall from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own . "If breaks out, and catches in so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the shall surely . "If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief isn't found, then the master of the house shall come near to , to find out whether or not he has put his hand on his neighbor's goods. For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, 'This is mine,' the cause of both parties shall come before . He whom condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. "If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; the of shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor's goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not . But if it is stolen from him, the one who stole shall to its owner. If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn. "If a man borrows anything of his neighbor's, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely . If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease. "If a man entices a virgin who isn't pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. If her utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. "You shall not allow a sorceress to live. "Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to . "He who to any , except to only, shall be . "You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of . "You shall not take advantage of any or child. If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my will grow hot, and I will kill you with ; and your wives shall be , and your children . "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is , you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest. If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am . "You shall not blaspheme , nor a ruler of your people. "You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. "You shall give of your sons to me. You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me. "You shall be men to me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.
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.