World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Leviticus 20
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1 spoke to , saying, "Moreover, you shall tell the , 'Anyone of the , or of the strangers who live as in Israel, who gives any of his to shall surely be put to . The people of the land shall stone that person with stones. I also will set against that person, and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his to , to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my name. If the people of the land all hide their eyes from that person when he gives of his to , and don't put him to , then I will set against that man and against his family, and will cut him off, and all who play the after him to play the with , from among their people. "'The person that turns to those who are mediums and wizards, to play the after them, I will even set against that person, and will cut him off from among his people. "' yourselves therefore, and be ; for I am your . You shall keep , and do them. I am who sanctifies you. "'For everyone who his or his mother shall surely be put to . He has his or his mother. His shall be upon himself. "'The man who commits with another man's wife, even he who commits with his neighbor's wife, the and the shall surely be put to . "'The man who lies with his wife has uncovered his . Both of them shall surely be put to . Their shall be upon themselves. "'If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to . They have committed a perversion. Their shall be upon themselves. "'If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an . They shall surely be put to . Their shall be upon themselves. "'If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with , both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. "'If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to ; and you shall kill the animal. "'If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to . Their shall be upon them. "'If a man takes his sister—his daughter, or his mother's daughter—and sees her , and she sees his , it is a shameful thing. They in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister's . He shall bear his . "'If a man lies with a woman having her monthly period, and uncovers her , he has made her fountain , and she has uncovered the fountain of her . Both of them from among their people. "'You shall not of your mother's sister, nor of your sister, for he has made his close relative . They shall bear their . If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's . They shall bear their . They shall . "'If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an impurity. He has uncovered his brother's . They shall be . "'You shall therefore keep all and all my , and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to may not vomit you out. You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. But I have said to you, "You shall their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a and honey." I am your , who has separated you from the peoples. "'You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the , and between the fowl and the clean. You shall not make yourselves by animal, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you as for you. You shall be to me, for I, , am , and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine. "'A man or a woman that is a or is a wizard shall surely be put to . They shall be stoned with stones. Their shall be upon themselves.'"
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.