World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 18
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A man who isolates himself pursues selfishness, and defies all sound . A fool has no delight in , but only in revealing his own opinion. When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with comes . The words of a man's are like deep waters. The fountain of is like a flowing brook. To be partial to the faces of is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice. A fool's come into strife, and his invites beatings. A fool's is his , and his are a snare to his . The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts. One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of . name is a strong tower: run to him, and are safe. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination. Before of man is proud, but before is humility. He who answers before he hears, that is folly and to him. A man's will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed , who can bear? of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of seeks knowledge. A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. He who pleads his cause first seems right— until another comes and questions him. The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart. A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city. Disputes are like the bars of a . A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his . With the harvest of his he is satisfied. and life are in the of ; those who love it will eat its fruit. Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains of . plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly. A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
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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.