World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 16
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The plans of belong to man, but the answer of is from . All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but weighs the motives. Commit your deeds to , and your plans shall succeed. has made everything for its own end— yes, even for the day of evil. Everyone who is proud in is an to ; they shall certainly not be unpunished. By is atoned for. By the men depart from evil. When a man's ways please , he makes even his to be at peace with him. Better is a little with , than great revenues with injustice. A man's plans his course, but directs his steps. Inspired judgments are on of the king. He shall not betray his . Honest balances and scales are ; all the weights in the bag are his work. It is an for kings to do wrong, for is established by . are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth. The king's is a of , but a man will pacify it. In of the king's is life. His is like a cloud of the spring . How much better it is to get than gold! Yes, to get is to be chosen rather than silver. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his . Pride goes before , and an arrogant before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly with , than to divide the plunder with the proud. He who heeds the Word finds prosperity. Whoever trusts in is . in shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of promotes . is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the punishment of fools is their folly. of instructs his , and adds learning to his . Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the , and health to the bones. There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to . The appetite of the laboring man labors for him, for his urges him on. A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching . A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends. A man of entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good. One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his , is bent on evil. Gray hair is a of . It is attained by a life of . One who is is better than the mighty; one who rules his , than he who takes a city. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from .
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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.