World English Bible · The united kingdom

Psalms 99

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reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the . Let the earth be moved. is great in . He is high above all the peoples. Let them your great and awesome name. He is ! The King's strength also loves . You establish equity. You and in . Exalt our . at . He is ! and were among his priests, was among those who call on his name. They called on , and he answered them. He spoke to them in of cloud. They kept his testimonies, the that he gave them. You answered them, our . You are a who forgave them, although you took for their doings. Exalt , our . at his hill, for , our , is !

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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Psalms 99 | Read the Bible | EKLI