World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 139
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. A Psalm by . , you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my , but behold, , you know it altogether. You me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. This knowledge is beyond me. It's lofty. I can't attain it. Where could I go from your ? Or where could I flee from your ? If I ascend up into , you are there. If I make my bed in , behold, you are there! If I take the of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your will hold me. If I say, "Surely will overwhelm me. around me will be night," even doesn't hide from you, but the night shines as the day. is like to you. For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's . I will to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. knows that very well. My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your , ! How vast is their sum! If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you. If only you, , would kill . Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men! For they speak against you wickedly. Your take your name in . , don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become . Search me, , and know . Try me, and know my . See if there is any way in me, and lead me in the way.
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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