King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 140
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To the , . me, O , from the evil man: preserve me from the man; Which imagine mischiefs in their ; continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened their like a ; adders’ poison is under their . . Keep me, O , from the hands of ; preserve me from the man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings. The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. . I said unto , Thou art my : hear the voice of my supplications, O . O , the strength of my , thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O , the of : further not his device; lest they exalt themselves. . As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the ; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the man to overthrow him. I know that will maintain the cause of , and the right of . Surely shall unto thy name: the upright shall in thy .
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.
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