World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 37
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made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half , and its width a and a half, and a and a half its height. He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold for it around it. 3He cast four rings of gold for it in its four feet—two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side. He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. He made a of pure gold. Its length was two and a half , and a and a half its width. He made two of gold. He made them of beaten work, at the two ends of the : 8one at the one end, and one at the other end. He made the of one piece with the at its two ends. The spread out their above, covering the with their , with their faces toward one another. The faces of the were toward the . He made the table of acacia wood. Its length was two , and its width was a , and its height was a and a half. 11He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a gold molding around it. 12He made a border of a hand's width around it, and made a golden molding on its border around it. 13He cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet. 14The rings were close by the border, the places for the poles to carry the table. 15He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table. He made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes, its spoons, its bowls, and its pitchers with which to pour out, of pure gold. He made the lamp stand of pure gold. He made the lamp stand of beaten work. Its base, its shaft, its , its buds, and its flowers were of one piece with it. 18There were 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: 19three 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. In the lamp stand were four made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers; and 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 it. Their buds and their were of one piece with it. The whole thing was one beaten work of pure gold. He made its seven lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff dishes, of pure gold. 24He made it of a of pure gold, with all its vessels. He made the of acacia wood. It was square: its length was a , and its width a . Its height was two . Its were of one piece with it. 26He overlaid it with pure gold: its top, its sides around it, and its . He made a gold molding around it. 27He made two golden rings for it under its molding , on its two ribs, on its two sides, for places for poles with which to carry it. 28He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. He made the anointing oil and the pure of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.
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.