World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 48
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A Song. A Psalm by the sons of . Great is , and greatly to be praised, in the city of our , in his mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount , on the north sides, the city of the great King. has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge. For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together. They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away. Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail. With the east wind, you break the ships of . As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of of Armies, in the city of our . will establish it . . We have thought about your , , in the middle of your temple. As is your name, , so is your to the ends of the earth. Your is full of . Let Mount be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. Walk about , and go around her. Number its towers. Notice her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that you may tell it to the next generation. For this is our and ever. He will be our guide even to .
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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