World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 27
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Don't boast about tomorrow; for you don't know what a day may bring. Let another man you, and not your own ; a , and not your own . A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both. is cruel, and is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before ? Better is open rebuke than hidden love. The wounds of a friend are , although the kisses of an enemy are profuse. A full loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry , every bitter thing is sweet. As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home. Perfume and bring joy to ; so does earnest from a man's friend. Don't forsake your friend and your friend. Don't go to your brother's house in the day of your disaster. A neighbor who is near is better than a distant brother. Be , my son, and bring joy to , then I can answer my tormentor. A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it. Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a . Hold it for a wayward woman! He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as by him. A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike: restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his . Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend's countenance. Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be . Like water reflects a , so a man's reflects the man. and are never satisfied; and a man's eyes are never satisfied. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his . Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him. Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds, for riches are not , nor does the . The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in. The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field. There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, for your family's food, and for the nourishment of girls.
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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.