World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 25
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1 spoke to , saying, "Speak to the , that they take an for me. From everyone whose makes him willing you shall take my . This is the which you shall take from them: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood, oil for , spices for the anointing oil and for the , onyx stones, and stones to be set for the and for the breastplate. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the , and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it. "They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Its length shall be two and a half , its width a and a half, and a and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall overlay it inside and outside, and you shall make a gold molding around it. You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four feet. Two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it. You shall put which I shall give you into the ark. You shall make a of pure gold. Two and a half shall be its length, and a and a half its width. You shall make two of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the . 19Make one at the one end, and one at the other end. You shall make the on its two ends of one piece with the . The shall spread out their upward, covering the with their , with their faces toward one another. The faces of the shall be toward the . You shall put the on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put that I will give you. There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the , from between the two which are on the , all that I command you for the . "You shall make a table of acacia wood. Its length shall be two , and its width a , and its height one and a half . You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. You shall make a rim of a hand width around it. You shall make a golden molding on its rim around it. 26You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet. The rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls with which to pour out . You shall make them of pure gold. You shall set on the table before me always. "You shall make a lamp stand of pure gold. The lamp stand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its shaft, its , its buds, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32There shall be six going out of its sides: three of the lamp stand out of its one side, and three of the lamp stand out of its other side; three made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower; and three made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six going out of the lamp stand; 34and in the lamp stand four made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers; 35and a bud under two of one piece with it, and a bud under two of one piece with it, and a bud under two of one piece with it, for the six going out of the lamp stand. Their buds and their shall be of one piece with it, all of it one beaten work of pure gold. You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall its lamps to give to the space in front of it. Its snuffers and its snuff dishes shall be of pure gold. 39It shall be made of a of pure gold, with all these accessories. See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.
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.