King James Version · The united kingdom
Proverbs 26
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As snow in summer, and as in harvest, so is not seemly for a fool. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the causeless shall not come. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a for the fool’s back. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be in his own conceit. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not equal: so is in the of fools. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth to a fool. As a goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is in the of fools. The great that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Seest thou a man in his own conceit? there is more of a fool than of him. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in ; a lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand ; it grieveth him to bring it again to his . The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and , So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to ; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning and a are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his , and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, him not: for there are seven in . Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole . Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering worketh .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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.