King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 56
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To the upon Jonath–elem–rechokim, Michtam of , when the took him in . Be merciful unto me, O : for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou . What time I am afraid, I will in thee. In I will his word, in I have put my ; I will not fear what can do unto me. Every day they wrest my words: all their are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for . Shall they escape by ? in thine cast down the people, O . Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine : this I know; for is for me. In will I his word: in will I his word. In have I put my : I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Thy are upon me, O : I will render unto thee. For thou hast from : wilt not thou my feet from falling, that I may walk before in of the living?
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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