World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 20
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is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not . The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to forfeits his own life. It is an for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing. in of man is like deep water, but a man of will draw it out. Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a man? A man walks in integrity. are his children after him. A king who sits on of scatters away all evil with his eyes. Who can say, "I have made pure. I am clean and without "? Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an to . Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, has made even both of them. Don't love sleep, lest you come to . Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread. "It's no good, it's no good," says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts. There is gold and abundance of rubies, but of knowledge are a rare jewel. Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a ; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman. Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his is filled with gravel. Plans are established by ; by guidance you wage war! He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don't keep company with him who opens wide his . Whoever his or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of . An quickly gained at the beginning won't be in the end. Don't say, "I will pay back evil." , and he will you. detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing. A man's steps are from ; how then can man understand his way? It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his . A king winnows out , and drives the wheel over them. of man is lamp, searching all his innermost parts. Love and keep the king safe. His is sustained by love. The of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair. Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.
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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.