King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 4
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To the on , . Hear me when I call, O of my : thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my . O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my into ? how long will ye love , and seek after leasing? . But know that hath him that is godly for himself: will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and not: commune with your own upon your bed, and be still. . Offer the of , and put your in . There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? , lift thou up of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in , more than in the time that their corn and their increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, , only makest me in safety.
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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