World English Bible · The united kingdom
Ecclesiastes 3
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For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under : a time to be born, and a time to ; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What profit has he who works in that in which he labors? I have seen the burden which has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their , yet so that man can't find out the work that has done even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live. Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of . I know that whatever does, it shall be . Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and has done it, that men should fear before him. That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago. seeks again that which is passed away. Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of , that wickedness was there. I said in , " will judge ; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work." I said in , "As for the sons of men, tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals. For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals, for all is . All go to one place. All are from , and all turn to again. Who knows of man, whether it goes upward, and of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?" Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works, for that is his ; for who can bring him to see what will be after him?
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.