King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 44
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
To the for the sons of , Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O , our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own , neither did their own arm them: but thy , and thine arm, and of thy countenance, because thou hadst a unto them. Thou art my King, O : command deliverances for . Through thee will we push down our : through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not in my bow, neither shall my me. But thou hast us from our , and hast put them to that hated us. In we boast all the day long, and thy name for ever. . But thou hast cast off, and put us to ; and goest not forth with our armies. Thou makest us to from : and they which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen. Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price. Thou makest us a to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the of hath covered me, For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of and . All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy . Our is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of . If we have forgotten the name of our , or stretched out our hands to a strange ; Shall not search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of . Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O ? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy , and forgettest our affliction and our ? For our is to : our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and us for thy ’ sake.
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