World English Bible · The united kingdom
Ecclesiastes 11
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Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days. Give a to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don't know what evil will be on the earth. If the clouds are full of , they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be. He who observes the wind won't sow; and he who regards the clouds won't reap. As you don't know what is of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the of her who is with child; even so you don't know the work of who does all. In the morning sow , and in the evening don't withhold your hand; for you don't know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good. Truly is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see the sun. Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of , for they shall be many. All that comes is . Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of , and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things will bring you into . Therefore remove sorrow from , and evil from your ; for youth and the dawn of life are .
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.