World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 31
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1 spoke to , saying, "Behold, I have called by name the son of , the son of , of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with of , in , and in , and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship, to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of workmanship. Behold, I myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in of all who are -hearted I have put , that they may make all that I have commanded you: the , the , the that is on it, all the furniture of the Tent, the table and its vessels, the pure lamp stand with all its vessels, the , the of burnt offering with all its vessels, the basin and its base, the finely worked garments—the garments for the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest's office— the anointing oil, and the of sweet spices for the place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do." 12 spoke to , saying, "Speak also to the , saying, 'Most certainly you shall keep my ; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am who sanctifies you. You shall keep the therefore, for it is to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to ; for whoever does any work therein, that from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a of solemn rest, to . Whoever does any work on the shall surely be put to . Therefore the shall keep the , to observe the throughout their generations, for a perpetual . It is a sign between me and the ; for in six days made and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.'" When he finished speaking with him on , he gave the two tablets of , stone tablets, written with finger.
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.