World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 24
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Don't be envious of evil men, neither to be with them; for their plot and their talk about mischief. Through a house is built; by it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all rare and beautiful . A man has great . A knowledgeable man increases strength, for by guidance you wage your war, and victory is in many advisors. is too high for a fool. He doesn't open his in the . One who plots to do evil will be called a schemer. The schemes of folly are . The mocker is detested by men. If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being led away to ! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter! If you say, "Behold, we didn't know this," doesn't he who weighs the consider it? He who keeps your , doesn't he know it? Shall he not give to every man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste; so you shall know to be to your . If you have found it, then there will be a reward: Your will not . Don't lay in wait, man, against the habitation of . Don't destroy his ; for a man falls seven times and rises up again, but are overthrown by calamity. Don't rejoice when your enemy falls. Don't let be glad when he is overthrown, lest see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his from him. Don't fret yourself because of , neither be envious of ; for there will be no reward to the evil man. The lamp of will be snuffed out. My son, and the king. Don't join those who are rebellious, for their calamity will rise suddenly. Who knows what may come from them both? These also are sayings of : To show partiality in is not good. He who says to , "You are ," peoples will him, and nations will abhor him— but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a rich will come on them. An honest answer is like a kiss on . Prepare your work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house. Don't be a against your neighbor without cause. Don't deceive with your . Don't say, "I will do to him as he has done to me; I will the man according to his work." I went by the field of the sluggard, by the of the man void of . Behold, it was all grown over with . Its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw, and considered well. I saw, and received : a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so your will come as a robber and your want as an armed man.
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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.