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’s Response
1When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord,#2Ch 7:11–22 the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,#1Kg 7:1–2; 2Ch 7:11 2the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.#1Kg 3:5; 11:9 3The Lord said to him:
I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put#9:3 Or by putting my name there forever;#1Kg 8:29 my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.#2Ch 6:40
4As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and in what is right, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances,#1Kg 3:6,14; 11:4,6; 1Ch 28:9 5I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.#2Sm 7:12,15–16; 1Kg 2:4
6If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands — my statutes that I have set before you — and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,#Dt 28:15; 1Kg 11:10; 1Ch 28:9 7I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them,#Lv 26:33; Dt 28:63 and I will reject#9:7 Lit send from my presence the temple I have sanctified for my name.#Dt 12:5; 1Kg 8:20 Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.#Dt 28:37 8Though this temple is now exalted,#9:8 Some ancient versions read temple will become a ruin everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff.#9:8 Lit hiss They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?”#Lv 26:32; Dt 29:24; Mt 23:38 9Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.”#Dt 29:25; 31:29
King Hiram’s Twenty Towns
10At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace#1Kg 6:38; 7:1; 2Ch 8:1 — 11King Hiram of Tyre#1Kg 5:1 having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold#Dt 17:17 for his every wish#1Kg 5:10 — King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. 12So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. 13So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother?” So he called them the Land of Cabul,#9:13 = Like Nothing as they are still called today.#2Ch 8:2 14Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds#9:14 Lit 120 talents of gold.#Dt 17:17
Solomon’s Forced Labor
15This is the account of the forced labor#1Kg 5:13–16 that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces,#2Sm 5:9 the wall of Jerusalem,#1Kg 3:1 and Hazor,#Jos 11:1 Megiddo,#Jos 17:11 and Gezer.#Jdg 1:29 16Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.#1Kg 3:1; 7:8 17Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,#Jos 16:3; 2Ch 8:5 18Baalath,#Jos 19:44 Tamar#9:18 Alt Hb traditions, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read Tadmor; 2Ch 8:4#9:18 Tamar was a city in southern Judah; Ezk 47:19; 48:28. in the Wilderness of Judah, 19all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities,#1Kg 10:26 the cavalry cities,#1Kg 4:26 and whatever Solomon desired to build#1Kg 9:1 in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
20As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites — 21their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely#Jdg 1:21–36; 3:1; 2Ch 8:7–8 — Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is still this way today.#Jdg 1:28,35; Ezr 2:55,58 22But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery;#Lv 25:39 they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. 23These were the deputies#1Kg 5:16 who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who supervised the people doing the work.#2Ch 8:9–10
Solomon’s Other Activities
24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David#2Sm 5:7 to the house that Solomon had built for her;#1Kg 7:8; 2Ch 8:11 he then built the terraces.#1Kg 9:15; 11:27; 2Ch 32:5
25Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord’s presence.#Dt 16:16 So he completed the temple.#2Ch 8:16
26King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber,#Nm 33:48; 1Kg 22:48 which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. 27With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants. 28They went to Ophir#1Kg 10:11; 22:48–49 and acquired gold there — sixteen tons#9:28 Lit 420 talents — and delivered it to Solomon.#1Kg 9:11,14
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