World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 49
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. A Psalm by the sons of . Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and together. My will speak words of . will utter understanding. I will incline my ear to a . I will solve my on the harp. Why should I fear in the days of evil, when at my heels surrounds me? Those who in their wealth, and boast in of their riches— none of them can by any means his brother, nor give a for him. For the of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on , that he should not see corruption. For he sees that men ; likewise the fool and the senseless , and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that their houses will , and their dwelling places . They name their lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, doesn't . He is like the animals that . This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. . They are appointed as a flock for . shall be their . The upright shall over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in , far from their mansion. But will from the of , for he will receive me. . Don't be afraid when a man is made rich, when the of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His won't descend after him. Though while he lived he his — and men you when you do well for yourself— he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see . A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that .
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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