King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 21
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And stood up against Israel, and provoked to number Israel. And said to and to the of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer–sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. And answered, make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my the king, are they not all my ’s servants? why then doth my require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against . Wherefore departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to . And gave the sum of the number of the people unto . And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew : and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew . But and counted he not among them: for the king’s word was to . And was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. And said unto , I have greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. And spake unto Gad, ’s seer, saying, Go and tell , saying, Thus saith , I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to , and said unto him, Thus saith , Choose thee Either three years’ ; or three months to be destroyed before thy , while that of thine overtaketh thee; or else three days of , even the pestilence, in the land, and destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. And said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of ; for very great are his : but let me not fall into the hand of man. So sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And sent unto to destroy it: and as he was destroying, beheld, and he him of the evil, and said to that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And stood by the threshingfloor of the . And lifted up his eyes, and saw stand between the earth and the , having a drawn in his hand stretched out over . Then and the , who were clothed in , fell upon their faces. And said unto , Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I thee, O my , be on me, and on ’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. Then commanded Gad to say to , that should go up, and set up an unto in the threshingfloor of the . And went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of . And turned back, and saw ; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now was wheat. And as came to , looked and saw , and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to with to the ground. Then said to , Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an therein unto : thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people. And said unto , Take it to thee, and let my the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat ; I give it all. And king said to , Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for , nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So gave to for the place six hundred of gold by weight. And built there an unto , and offered burnt offerings and , and called upon ; and he answered him from by upon the of burnt offering. And commanded ; and he put up his again into the sheath thereof. 28At that time when saw that had answered him in the threshingfloor of the , then he there. For the of , which made in , and the of the burnt offering, were at that season in the at . But could not go before it to enquire of : for he was afraid because of of .
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 · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.