World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 88
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A Song. A Psalm by the sons of . . To the tune of "The Suffering of Affliction." A contemplation by , the Ezrahite. , the of my , I have cried day and night before you. Let my enter into your . Turn your ear to my cry. For is full of troubles. My life draws near to . I am counted among those who go down into . I am like a man who has no help, among , like the slain who lie in the , whom you remember no more. They are your hand. You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. . You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an to them. I am confined, and I can't escape. My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, . I have spread out my hands to you. Do you show wonders to ? Do the departed spirits rise up and you? . Is your declared in the ? Or your in ? Are your wonders in the dark? Or your in the land of forgetfulness? But to you, , I have cried. In the morning, my comes before you. , why do you reject ? Why do you hide your from me? I am afflicted and ready to from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. Your fierce has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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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