World English Bible · The united kingdom
Proverbs 3
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My son, don't forget my teaching, but let keep my , for they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace. Don't let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of . So you will find , and good in the sight of and man. in with all , and don't lean on your own . In all your ways him, and he will make your straight. Don't be in your own eyes. , and depart from evil. It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones. with your substance, with the of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with . My son, don't despise , neither be weary of his ; for whom loves, he corrects, even as a reproves the son in whom he delights. Happy is the man who finds , the man who gets . For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can are to be compared to her. Length of days is in her . In her left hand are riches and . Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her are peace. She is a to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her. By founded the earth. By , he established . By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the . My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound and discretion, so they will be life to your , and for your neck. Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won't stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. Don't be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of , when it comes; for will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken. Don't withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the of your hand to do it. Don't say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you," when you have it by you. Don't devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you. Don't strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. Don't envy the man of . Choose none of his ways. For the perverse is an to , but his friendship is with the upright. is in the house of , but he blesses the habitation of . Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives to the humble. will , but will be the promotion of fools.
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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.