World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 137
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By the rivers of , there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered . On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps. For there, those who led us asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of !" How can we sing song in a foreign land? If I forget you, , let my forget its skill. Let my stick to the roof of my if I don't remember you, if I don't prefer above my chief joy. Remember, , against the children of in the day of , who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!" Daughter of , doomed to , he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us. Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against .
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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