World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 22
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
therefore departed from there and escaped to cave. When his brothers and all his house heard it, they went down there to him. Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them. There were with him about four hundred men. went from there to of ; and he said to the king of , "Please let and my mother come out to you, until I know what will do for me." He brought them before the king of ; and they lived with him all the time that was in the . The Gad said to , "Don't stay in the . Depart, and go into the land of Judah." Then departed, and came into the forest of Hereth. heard that was discovered, with the men who were with him. Now was sitting in , under the tamarisk tree in , with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. said to his servants who stood around him, "Hear now, you ! Will the son of give everyone of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? Is that why all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of , and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?" Then the , who stood by the servants of , answered and said, "I saw the son of coming to , to the son of . He inquired of for him, gave him food, and gave him of the ." Then the king sent to call the priest, the son of , and all his house, the priests who were in ; and they all came to the king. said, "Hear now, you son of ." He answered, "Here I am, my ." said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of , in that you have given him bread, and a , and have inquired of for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?" Then answered the king, and said, "Who among all your servants is so as , who is the king's son-in-law, captain of your body guard, and in your house? Have I today begun to inquire of for him? Be it far from me! Don't let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of ; for knew nothing of all this, less or more." The king said, "You shall surely , , you and all your house." The king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn and kill the priests of , because their hand also is with , and because they knew that he fled and didn't disclose it to me." But the servants of the king wouldn't put out their hand to fall on the priests of . The king said to , "Turn and attack the priests!" the turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen . He struck , the city of the priests, with the edge of —both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle, donkeys, and sheep, with the edge of . One of the sons of the son of , named , escaped and fled after . 21 told that had slain priests. said to , "I knew on that day, when the was there, that he would surely tell . I am responsible for the of all the persons of your house. Stay with me. Don't be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. You will be safe with me."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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.