World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 25
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; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and at his house at . Then arose and went down to of . There was a man in whose possessions were in ; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in . Now the name of the man was ; and the name of his wife . This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful ; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. heard in that was shearing his sheep. sent ten young men; and said to the young men, "Go up to , and go to , and greet him in my name. Tell him, 'Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have! Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your have now been with us, and we didn't harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in . Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son .'" When young men came, they spoke to all those words in the name of , and waited. answered servants and said, "Who is ? Who is the son of ? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days. Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don't know where they come from?" So young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words. said to his men, "Every man put on his !" Every man put on his . also put on his . About four hundred men followed , and two hundred stayed by the baggage. But one of the young men told , wife, saying, "Behold, sent out of to greet our master; and he insulted them. But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn't miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow that one can't speak to him." Then hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of , five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. She said to her young men, "Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you." But she didn't tell her husband, . As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, and his men came down toward her, and she met them. Now had said, "Surely in I have kept all that this fellow has in , so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. do so to the of , and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning so much as one who urinates on a wall." When saw , she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before on her and bowed herself to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, "On me, my , on me be the blame! Please let speak in your ears. Hear the words of . Please don't let my pay attention to this worthless fellow, , for as his name is, so is he. is his name, and folly is with him; but I, , didn't see my young men whom you sent. Now therefore, my , as lives and as your lives, since has withheld you from guiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your and those who seek evil to my be as . Now this present which has brought to my , let it be given to the young men who follow my . Please forgive the trespass of . For will certainly make my a sure house, because my fights battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days. Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your , yet the of my will be bound in the bundle of life with your . He will sling out the of your as from a sling's pocket. It will come to pass, when has done to my according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of to my , either that you have shed without cause, or that my has himself. When has dealt well with my , then remember ." said to , " is , the of Israel, who sent you today to meet me! is your discretion, and are you, who have kept me today from guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. For indeed, as the of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn't have been left to by the morning so much as one who urinates on a wall." So received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request." came to ; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning . In the morning, when the had gone out of , his wife told him these things; and within him, and he became as a stone. About ten days later, struck , so that he . When heard that was , he said, " is , who has pleaded the cause of my from the hand of , and has kept back his servant from evil. has returned the evildoing of on his own head." sent and spoke concerning , to take her to himself as wife. When servants had come to to , they spoke to her, saying, " has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife." She arose and bowed herself with her to the earth, and said, "Behold, is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my ." hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the of , and became his wife. also took Ahinoam of ; and they both became his wives. Now had given his daughter, wife, to the son of , who was of Gallim.
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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.