King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 135
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
ye . ye the name of ; him, O ye servants of . Ye that stand in the , in the courts of the house of our , ; for is good: sing unto his name; for it is pleasant. For hath chosen unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar . For I know that is great, and that our is above all gods. Whatsoever pleased, that did he in , and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the ; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. Who smote of , both of man and beast. Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O , upon , and upon all his servants. Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; king of the , and king of , and all the kingdoms of : And gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people. Thy name, O , endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O , throughout all generations. For will judge his people, and he will himself concerning his servants. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 17They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them. , O : , O house of : 20, O : ye that , . be out of , which dwelleth at . ye .
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.
All of Psalms
123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150