King James Version · The united kingdom
Psalms 78
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Maschil of . Give ear, O my people, to : incline your ears to the words of my . I will open my in : I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the of , and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a in , and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their in , and not forget the works of , but keep his : And might not be as their fathers, a and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their aright, and whose was not stedfast with . The children of , being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not of , and refused to walk in ; And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of , in the field of . He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a of . He clave the rocks in , and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of , and caused waters to run down like rivers. And they yet more against him by provoking in . And they in their by asking meat for their . Yea, they spake against ; they said, Can furnish a table in ? Behold, he smote , that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide for his people? Therefore heard this, and was wroth: so a was kindled against , and also came up against Israel; Because they not in , and trusted not in his : Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of , And had rained down upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of . Man did eat ’ food: he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the : and by his he brought in the south wind. He rained also upon them as , and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 28And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own ; They were not estranged from their . But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31 came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they still, and not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in , and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after . And they remembered that was their , and the high their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their , and they lied unto him with their . For their was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his . But he, being full of , forgave their , and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his away, and did not stir up all his . For he remembered that they were but ; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. How oft did they provoke him in , and grieve him in ! Yea, they turned back and , and limited the One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he them from . How he had wrought his signs in , and his wonders in the field of : And had turned their rivers into ; and their floods, that they could not drink. He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the . He destroyed their with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of his , , and , and trouble, by sending evil among them. He made a way to his ; he spared not their from , but gave their life over to the pestilence; And smote all in ; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of : But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in like a flock. And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their . And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an by line, and made the tribes of Israel to in their tents. Yet they and provoked , and kept not his testimonies: But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to with their , and moved him to with their graven . When heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: So that he forsook the of , the tent which he placed among men; And his strength into , and his into ’s hand. He gave his people over also unto ; and was wroth with his . The consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell ; and their made no . Then awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of . And he smote his in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual . Moreover he refused the of , and chose not the tribe of : But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. He chose also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed his people, and Israel his . So he fed them according to the integrity of ; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
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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