World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 73
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A Psalm by . Surely is good to Israel, to those who are pure in . But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of . For there are no struggles in their , but their strength is firm. They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with fat. Their pass the limits of conceit. They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten . They have set their in . Their walks through the earth. Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance. They say, "How does know? Is there knowledge in ?" Behold, these are . Being always at ease, they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed in , and washed my hands in innocence, For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. If I had said, "I will speak thus", behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me— until I entered sanctuary, and considered their latter end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to . How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. As a when one wakes up, so, , when you awake, you will despise their fantasies. For was grieved. I was embittered in . I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my . You will guide me with your , and afterward receive me to . Whom do I have in ? There is no one on earth whom I besides you. My and fails, but is the strength of and my . For, behold, those who are far from you shall . You have destroyed all those who are to you. But it is good for me to come close to . I have made my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
Christians read this chapter differently
Every view at its strongest, with who holds it and what it has to answer for.
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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