World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 32
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When the people saw that delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to , and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this , the man who brought us up out of the land of , we don't know what has become of him." said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me." All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to . He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of ." When saw this, he built an before it; and made a proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to ." They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought ; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. spoke to , "Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of , have corrupted themselves! They have turned away quickly out of which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have it, and have to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of .'" said to , "I have seen these people, and behold, they are a people. Now therefore leave me alone, that my may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation." begged his , and said, ", why does your burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of with great and with a mighty hand? Why should the talk, saying, 'He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth'? Turn from your fierce , and turn away from this evil against your people. Remember , , and Israel, your servants, to whom you by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply as the stars of , and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to , and they shall it .'" So turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people. turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. The tablets were the work of , and the writing was the writing of , engraved on the tablets. When heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to , "There is the noise of war in the camp." He said, "It isn't the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear." As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then ' grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with , ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the drink it. said to , "What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great on them?" said, "Don't let the of my grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this , the man who brought us up out of the land of , we don't know what has become of him.' I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.' So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the , and out came this calf." When saw that the people were out of control, (for had let them lose control, causing derision among their ), then stood in the of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on side, come to me!" All the gathered themselves together to him. He said to them, ", the of Israel, says, 'Every man put his on his thigh, and go back and forth from to throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'" The did according to the word of . About three thousand men fell of the people that day. said, " yourselves today to , for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a today." On the next day, said to the people, "You have a great . Now I will go up to . Perhaps I shall make atonement for your ." returned to , and said, "Oh, this people have a great , and have made themselves gods of gold. Yet now, if you will, forgive their —and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written." said to , "Whoever has against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their ." struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which made.
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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.