World English Bible · The united kingdom
Ecclesiastes 12
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them;" Before the sun, , the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the ; in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on ; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the shall be a burden, and shall fail; because man goes to his home, and the mourners go about the streets; before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and returns to the earth as it was, and returns to who gave it. "," says the Preacher. "All is !" Further, because the Preacher was , he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many . The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth. The words of are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one . Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of . This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. and keep his ; for this is the whole duty of man. For will bring every work into , with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
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.