A few centuries befre Hmer was singing his wnderful sngs thrugh the streetsf Greece， a great kingf the Jews was singingther wnderful sngs in Canaan. This king was named David， and he wasn"t brn a king. He wasnly a shepherd by in King Saul"s army. This is the way he happened t becme king.
At first， as yu remember， the Jews had n kings； but they had asked fr kings， and at last they were givenne by the namef Saul.
David had killed the giant Gliath. We all lve this Bible stry because we are always glad when the skillful little chap beats the great， big， bragging bully.
Well， King Saul had a daughter， and she fell in lve with this brave and athletic yung David the Giant-Killer， and at last they were married.
After Saul died， David became king， and he was the greatest king the Jews had ever had. Althugh Saul had been king， he had lived in a tent， nt in a palace， and he didn"t even have a capital city.
David eventually cnquered a city in Canaan called Jerusalem and made this city the capitalf the Jews.
David was ntnly a brave warrir and a great king； he wrte beautiful sngs as well.
The blind pet Hmer sangf his fairy-tale gds. The great King David sangf hisne Gd.
These sngs are the Psalms， which are still read and sung in churches and synaggues.
Nwadays even a ppular sng is ppular frnly a few mnths， but the sngs that David wrte almst three thusand years ag are still ppular tday！ The Twenty-third Psalm， which starts， "The Lrd is my shepherd，" isnef the mst beautiful and a gdne t learn by heart. David likens himself t a sheep and his Lrd t a gd shepherd， wh tenderly lksut fr the cmfrt and safetyf his sheep.
David"s sn was named Slmn， and when David died Slmn became king.
If a gd fairy had asked yu what yu wuld rather have than anything in the wrld， I wnder what yu wuld have chsen. When Slmn becameking， Gd is said t have appeared t him in a dream and asked him what he wuld rather have than anything else in the wrld. Insteadf saying he wanted t be made richr pwerful， Slmn asked t be made wise， and Gd said He wuld make him the wisest man that ever lived. Here is a stry that shws hw wise he was.
nce upn a time tw wmen came t Slmn with a baby， and each wman said the baby was herwn child. Slmn called fr a swrd and said， "Cut the baby in tw， and give each a half."nef the wmen criedut t give the baby t thether rather than d this， and Slmn then knew wh was the real mther andrdered the baby t be given t her.
Slmn built a magnificent temple madef cedar-wd， frm the famus frestf Lebann， andf marble and gld and studded with jewels. Then he built himself a wnderful palace， which was s grgeus and splendid that peple came frm allver the wrld t see it. The Bible tells us just hw large this temple and palace were， nt in feet but in cubits. A cubit was the distance frm a man"s elbw t the endf his middle finger， which is abutne ft and a half.
The queenf Sheba， amngthers， came a lng distance acrss Arabia t hear the wise sayingsf Slmn and see his palace and the temple he had built.
Althugh the palace and temple were cnsidered extrardinarily magnificentat that time， yu must remember that this was a thusand years befre Christ.
Slmn"s temple and palace have disappeared lng since. But his wise sayings are preserved in many languages and read by many peple all arund the wrld. There are thusandsf buildings nw in the wrld that wuld make his palace， if still standing， lk like a child"s ty huse. But nne has ever been able t say any better the things he said. D yu think yu culd？ Suppse yu try. Here are smef them. They are called prverbs.
A sft answer turneth away wrath； but grievus wrds stir up anger.
What"s that mean？
A gd name is rather t be chsen than great riches and lving favr rather than silver and gld.
What"s that mean？
66 美国学生世界历史 · A Child"s Histryf the wrldLet anther man praise thee and nt thinewn muth.
What"s that mean？
Slmn was the last great king the Jews ever had. After he died the Jewish natin gradually brke up and then came back tgether again. Then， six hundred years later it finally went t pieces and， fr abut tw thusand years， the Jewish peple were withut a king， withut a capital， and withut a cuntryf theirwn， thugh they are fund in manyther cuntriesf the wrld. Then at last they frmed a new cuntry， a cuntry called Israel. Israel is in the land that used t be called Canaan.
【中文阅读】
在荷马吟唱他美妙的诗歌穿过希腊大街小巷之前的几个世纪，一位伟大的犹太国 王也在迦南吟唱另一种精彩的诗章。这位国王名叫大卫，他并非生来就是国王。他原 来只是犹太国王扫罗军队里的一个牧童。以下说的就是他怎么碰巧当上国王的故事。 你们还记得吧，最初犹太人是没有国王的；但是他们要求有国王，最终他们有了一个国王，名叫扫罗。 圣经记载，大卫杀死了巨人歌利亚。我们都喜欢这个故事，因为当那个武艺高超的小家伙打败了那个又高又大又爱吹牛的恶霸时，我们总是高兴的。 国王扫罗有个女儿，爱上了这个勇敢健壮、年纪轻轻就杀了巨人的大卫，最后他们结婚了。
扫罗死后，大卫当了国王，他是犹太人历史上最伟大的国王。虽然扫罗也当过 国王，但是他那时还住在帐篷里而不是宫殿里，他甚至连一个都城都没有。
大卫最终征服了迦南的一个叫耶路撒冷的城市，并将它定为犹太人的都城。 大卫不仅是勇敢的武士和伟大的国王，而且他还写了很多优美的诗歌。 盲诗人荷马歌颂的是神话故事中的众神，而伟大的大卫王则颂扬他唯一的主。 这些颂歌是圣经中的《诗篇》，也就是现在教堂和犹太会堂里仍然还在诵读和歌唱的赞美诗。
如今即使一首大众喜爱的歌曲也只能流行几个月，但大卫王在几乎三千年前写 的那些歌至今还在传唱。第二十三首赞美诗《耶和华是我的牧者》是最优美的赞美 诗之一，让人铭记在心。大卫将自己比作一只羊，将上帝比作善良的牧羊人，细心 呵护着羊群，让羊生活得自由自在。
大卫的儿子叫所罗门，大卫死后，所罗门成了国王。 如果有位善良的仙女问你，世界上你最想要什么，我想知道你会选什么呢？所罗门成为国王后，据说上帝出现在他的梦中，问他在世界上他最想要什么。所罗门 不想要财富和权势，他只请求让他变成有智慧的人，于是上帝说会让他成为世界上最有智慧的人。下面这个故事说明他多么有智慧。 有一次，两个妇女抱着个婴儿来找所罗门，各自都说婴儿是自己的亲骨肉。所罗门让人拿来一把剑，然后说："把这个婴儿劈成两半，给她们一人一半。"其中一个 妇女大声哭了起来，说宁愿把孩子让给另一个妇女，也不愿要这样的结果。所罗门 就知道了谁才是婴儿的生母，下令把孩子还给她。
所罗门建造了一座宏伟壮观的圣殿，所用材料有大理石、黄金和闻名于世的黎 巴嫩雪松，殿里点缀着颗颗珠宝。然后，他又为自己建了一座辉煌的宫殿，它是那 样的美轮美奂，吸引了世界各地的人前来参观。圣经中说起所罗门的圣殿和王宫有 多宏大时，都是用肘尺而不是用英尺来计算的。肘尺是人从肘部到中指尖的距离， 长度相当于一英尺半。
在来访者中，有位示巴女王穿越阿拉伯半岛，长途跋涉前来聆听所罗门的隽语 箴言，参观他建造的圣殿和王宫。
尽管当时这座圣殿和王宫被认为是奢华无比，但是你必须记住那可是在公元前1000 年。
所罗门的圣殿和王宫早已荡然无存了，但是他睿智的名言却被译成多种语言保 存至今，世界各地的人们现在还在阅读它们。如果他的王宫今天还在，和世界上成 千上万座高大建筑物相比看上去就像孩子的玩具房一样了，但是至今也没有人能说 出比所罗门的隽语箴言更有智慧的话了。你觉得你能吗？要不你试试？以下是其中 的几句，现在称作谚语了。
回答柔和，使怒消退； 言语暴戾，触动怒气。
这是什么意思？
美名胜过大财，恩宠强如金银。
这是什么意思？
任他人赞美而不自夸。
这又是什么意思呢？ 所罗门是犹太人最后一位伟大的国王。他死后，犹太民族开始了分而又合的过程。六百年后，犹太王国最终还是分崩离析了。将近两千年来，犹太人一直都没有 国王，没有国都，也没有一个属于自己的国家，虽然现在许多国家都可以见到犹太 人。最后，他们建立了一个新的国家，一个叫以色列的国家。以色列就位于过去被 称为迦南的那块土地上。