King James Version · Egypt and Sinai
Leviticus 22
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1And spake unto , saying, Speak unto and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the things of the , and that they profane not my name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am . Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all among your generations, that goeth unto the things, which the hallow unto , having his uncleanness upon him, that from my : I am . What man soever of the of is a , or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is by , or a man whose goeth from him; Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made , or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; The which hath touched any such shall be until even, and shall not eat of the things, unless he wash his with water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the things; because it is his food. That which dieth of itself, or is torn with , he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am . They shall therefore keep mine , lest they bear for it, and therefore, if they profane it: I do them. There shall no eat of the thing: a of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the thing. But if the priest buy any with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat. If the priest’s daughter also be married unto a , she may not eat of an of the things. But if the priest’s daughter be a , or , and have no child, and is returned unto her ’s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her ’s meat: but there shall no eat thereof. And if a man eat of the thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give it unto the priest with the thing. And they shall not profane the things of the , which they offer unto ; Or suffer them to bear the of trespass, when they eat their things: for I do them. 17And spake unto , saying, Speak unto , and to his sons, and unto all the , and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the , or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his , and for all his freewill , which they will offer unto for a ; Ye shall offer at your own will a male , of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats. But whatsoever hath a , that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you. And whosoever offereth a of unto to accomplish his , or a freewill in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no therein. Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto , nor make an by of them upon the unto . Either a bullock or that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill ; but for a it shall not be accepted. Ye shall not offer unto that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any thereof in your land. Neither from a ’s hand shall ye offer the bread of your of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you. 26And spake unto , saying, When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an made by unto . And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day. And when ye will offer a of unto , offer it at your own will. On the same day it shall be eaten up; ye shall leave none of it until the morrow: I am . Therefore shall ye keep my , and do them: I am . Neither shall ye profane my name; but I will be hallowed among the : I am which hallow you, That brought you out of the land of , to be your : I am .
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.