World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 23
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When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you; put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Don't be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food. Don't weary yourself to be rich. In your , show restraint. Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts like an eagle and flies in . Don't eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don't crave his delicacies, for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but is not with you. 8You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. Don't speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the of your words. Don't move the ancient boundary stone. Don't encroach on the fields of , for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you. Apply to , and your ears to the words of knowledge. Don't withhold from a child. If you punish him with the , he will not . Punish him with the , and his from . My son, if is , then will be glad, even mine. Yes, will rejoice when your speak what is right. Don't let envy , but rather all day long. Indeed surely there is a future , and your will not . Listen, my son, and be , and keep on the right path! Don't be among ones drinking too much , or those who gorge themselves on meat; for the drunkard and the glutton shall become ; and drowsiness clothes them in rags. Listen to your who gave you life, and don't despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and don't sell it. Get , , and . of has great joy. Whoever fathers a child delights in him. Let your and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice! My son, give me ; and let your eyes keep in my ways. For a is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the among men. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at the ; those who go to seek out mixed . Don't look at the when it is red, when it sparkles in , when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and will imagine confusing things. Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging: "They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don't feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more."
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.