King James Version · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 37
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And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two and a half was the length of it, and a and a half the breadth of it, and a and a half the height of it: And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a of gold to it round about. 3And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. And he made the of pure gold: two and a half was the length thereof, and one and a half the breadth thereof. And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the ; 8One on the end on this side, and another on the other end on that side: out of the made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims spread out their on high, and covered with their over the , with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims. And he made the table of shittim wood: two was the length thereof, and a the breadth thereof, and a and a half the height thereof: 11And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a of gold round about. 12Also he made thereunto a border of an round about; and made a of gold for the border thereof round about. 13And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof. 14Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. 15And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold. And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same: 18And six going out of the sides thereof; three of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: 19Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six going out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers: And a knop under two of the same, and a knop under two of the same, and a knop under two of the same, according to the six going out of it. Their knops and their were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold. And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold. 24Of a of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof. And he made the of shittim wood: the length of it was a , and the breadth of it a ; it was foursquare; and two was the height of it; the thereof were of the same. 26And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the of it: also he made unto it a of gold round about. 27And he made two rings of gold for it under the thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal. 28And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he made the anointing oil, and the pure of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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.