1 Kings 9
9
The Lord Appears to Solomon
1Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He had accomplished everything he had planned to do. 2The Lord appeared to him a second time. He had already appeared to him at Gibeon. 3The Lord said to him,
“I have heard you pray to me. I have heard you ask me to help you. You have built this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4“But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Your heart must be honest. It must be without blame. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws. 5Then I will set up your royal throne over Israel forever. I promised your father David I would do that. I said to him, ‘You will always have a son from your family line on the throne of Israel.’
6“But suppose all of you turn away from me. Or your children turn away from me. You refuse to obey the commands and rules I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them. 7Then I will remove Israel from the land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. Then Israel will be hated by all the nations. They will laugh and joke about Israel. 8This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will make fun of it. And they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done a thing like this to this land and temple?’ 9People will answer, ‘Because they have deserted the Lord their God. He brought out of Egypt their people of long ago. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshiping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the Lord has brought all this horrible trouble on them.’ ”
Other Things Solomon Did
10Solomon built the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. It took him 20 years to construct those two buildings. 11King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram, the king of Tyre. That’s because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted. He had also provided Solomon with all the gold he wanted. 12Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. But he wasn’t pleased with them. 13“My friend,” he asked, “what have you given me? What kind of towns are these?” So he called them the Land of Kabul. And that’s what they are still called to this day. 14Hiram had sent four and a half tons of gold to Solomon.
15King Solomon forced people to work hard for him. Here is a record of what they did. They built the Lord’s temple and Solomon’s palace. They filled in the low places. They rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. They built up Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked Gezer and captured it. He had set it on fire. He had killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he had given Gezer as a wedding gift to his daughter. She was Solomon’s wife. 17Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He built up Lower Beth Horon 18and Baalath. He built up Tadmor in the desert. All those towns were in his land. 19He built up all the cities where he could store things. He also built up the towns for his chariots and horses. He built anything he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon and all the territory he ruled over.
20There were still many people left in the land who weren’t Israelites. They included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 21They were children of the people who had lived in the land before the Israelites came. Those people had been set apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. But the Israelites hadn’t been able to kill all of them. Solomon forced them to work very hard as his slaves. And they still work for Israel as slaves to this day. 22But Solomon didn’t force any of the Israelites to work as his slaves. Instead, some were his fighting men. Others were his government officials, his officers and his captains. Others were commanders of his chariots and chariot drivers. 23Still others were the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects. There were 550 officials in charge of those who did the work.
24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David up to the palace Solomon had built for her. After that, he filled in the low places near the palace.
25Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. He sacrificed them on the altar he had built to honor the Lord. Along with the offerings, he burned incense to the Lord. So he carried out his duties for the temple.
26King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. It’s near Elath in Edom. It’s on the shore of the Red Sea. 27Hiram sent his men to serve on the ships together with Solomon’s men. Hiram’s sailors knew the sea. 28All of them sailed to Ophir. They brought back 16 tons of gold. They gave it to King Solomon.
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1 Kings 9
9
The Lord Appears to Solomon Again
(2 Chronicles 7.11-22)
1The Lord's temple and Solomon's palace were now finished, and Solomon had built everything he wanted. 2#1 K 3.5; 2 Ch 1.7. Some time later the Lord appeared to him again in a dream, just as he had done at Gibeon. 3#3 Macc 2.9. The Lord said:
I heard your prayer and what you asked me to do. This temple you have built is where I will be worshiped forever. It belongs to me, and I will never stop watching over it.
4You must obey me, as your father David did, and be honest and fair. Obey my laws and teachings, 5#1 K 2.4. and I will keep my promise to David that someone from your family will always be king of Israel.
6But if you or any of your descendants disobey my commands or start worshiping foreign gods, 7I will no longer let my people Israel live in this land I gave them. I will desert this temple where I said I would be worshiped. Then people everywhere will think this nation is only a joke and will make fun of it. 8#2 K 25.9; 2 Ch 36.19. This temple will become a pile of rocks!#9.8 a pile of rocks: Some ancient translations; Hebrew “high.” Everyone who walks by will be shocked, and they will ask, “Why did the Lord do such a terrible thing to his people and to this temple?” 9Then they will answer, “We know why the Lord did this. The people of Israel rejected the Lord their God, who rescued their ancestors from Egypt, and they started worshiping other gods.”
Other Things Solomon Did
(2 Chronicles 8.1-18)
10It took 20 years for the Lord's temple and Solomon's palace to be built. 11Later, Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 towns in the region of Galilee to repay him for the cedar, pine, and gold he had given Solomon.
12When Hiram went to see the towns, he did not like them. 13He said, “Solomon, my friend, are these the kind of towns you want to give me?” So Hiram called the region Cabul because he thought it was worthless.#9.13 Cabul … worthless: Cabul sounds like the Hebrew word for “worthless.” 14He sent Solomon only five tons of gold in return.
15After Solomon's workers had finished the temple and the palace, he ordered them to fill in the land on the east side of Jerusalem,#9.15 fill … Jerusalem: The Hebrew text has “build the Millo,” which probably refers to a landfill to strengthen and extend the hill where the city was built. to build a wall around the city, and to rebuild the towns of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
16Earlier, the king of Egypt had captured the town of Gezer; he burned it to the ground and killed the Canaanite people living there. Then he gave it to his daughter as a wedding present when she married Solomon. 17So Solomon had the town rebuilt.
Solomon ordered his workers to rebuild Lower Beth-Horon, 18Baalath, and Tamar in the desert of Judah. 19They also built towns where he could keep his supplies and his chariots and horses. Solomon ordered them to build whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and anywhere in his kingdom.
20-22Solomon did not force the Israelites to do his work. They were his soldiers, officials, leaders, commanders, chariot captains, and chariot drivers. But he did make slaves of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were living in Israel. These were the descendants of those foreigners the Israelites could not destroy, and they remained Israel's slaves.
23Solomon appointed 550 officers to be in charge of his workers and to watch over his building projects.
24Solomon's wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, moved from the older part of Jerusalem#9.24 the older … Jerusalem: See the note at 3.1. to her new palace. Then Solomon had the land on the east side of Jerusalem filled in.#9.24 the land … filled in: See the note at 9.15.
25 #
Ex 23.17; 34.23; Dt 16.16. Three times a year, Solomon burned incense and offered sacrifices to the Lord on the altar he had built.
Solomon had now finished building the Lord's temple.
26He also had a lot of ships at Ezion-Geber, a town in Edom near Eloth on the Red Sea.#9.26 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the northeastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at Exodus 13.11). 27-28King Hiram let some of his experienced sailors go to the country of Ophir#9.27,28 Ophir: The location of this place is not known. with Solomon's own sailors, and they brought back about 14 tons of gold for Solomon.
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