World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 115
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Not to us, , not to us, but to your name give , for your , and for your truth's sake. Why should the nations say, "Where is their , now?" But our is in . He does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they don't speak. They have eyes, but they don't see. 6They have ears, but they don't hear. They have noses, but they don't smell. 7They have hands, but they don't feel. They have feet, but they don't walk, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them. Israel, in ! He is their help and their shield. House of , in ! He is their help and their shield. You who , in ! He is their help and their shield. remembers us. He will us. He will the . He will the house of . He will those who , both small and great. May increase you more and more, you and your children. are you by , who made and earth. are , but he has given the earth to the children of men. don't , nor any who go down into silence, but we will , from this time forward and 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.
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