King James Version · Egypt and Sinai
Leviticus 11
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1And spake unto and to , saying unto them, Speak unto the , saying, These are the which ye shall eat among all the that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the , that shall ye eat. 4Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unto you. And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unto you. And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unto you. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is to you. Of their shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are to you. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an unto you: 11They shall be even an unto you; ye shall not eat of their , but ye shall have their carcases in . 12Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an unto you. And these are they which ye shall have in among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an : the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, 14And the vulture, and the kite after his kind; Every raven after his kind; And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 17And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, 18And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, 19And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an unto you. 21Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; Even these of them ye may eat; the after his kind, and the bald after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the after his kind. 23But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an unto you. And for these ye shall be : whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be until the even. And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be until the even. 26The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be . And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of that go on all four, those are unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be until the even. And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be until the even: they are unto you. These also shall be unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, 30And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole. These are to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be , shall be until the even. And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are , doth fall, it shall be ; whether it be any of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be until the even; so it shall be cleansed. And every , whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be ; and ye shall break it. Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be : and all drink that may be drunk in every such shall be . And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be ; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are , and shall be unto you. Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be . And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing which is to be sown, it shall be clean. 38But if any water be put upon the , and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unto you. And if any beast, of which ye may eat, ; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be until the even. And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be until the even. And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an ; it shall not be eaten. Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an . Ye shall not make yourselves with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I am your : ye shall therefore yourselves, and ye shall be ; for I am : neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am that bringeth you up out of the land of , to be your : ye shall therefore be , for I am . This is of the , and of the fowl, and of every that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: To make a difference between the and the clean, and between that may be eaten and that may not be eaten.
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.