King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 49
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To the , A Psalm for the sons of . Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and , together. My shall speak of ; and the of shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to : I will open my dark saying upon the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the of my heels shall compass me about? They that in their wealth, and boast themselves in of their riches; None of them can by any means his brother, nor give to a for him: (For the of their is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. For he seeth that men , likewise the fool and the brutish person , and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places ; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in abideth not: he is like the that . This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. . Like sheep they are laid in the ; shall feed on them; and the upright shall over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the from their dwelling. But will from the of the : for he shall receive me. . Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he his : and men will thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see . Man that is in , and understandeth not, is like the that .
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
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