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
Yahweh’s Challenge to Solomon
1It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king’s house, and all the things Solomon desired to do, 2Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. 3Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart#Literally “in blamelessness of heart” and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my ordinances and my judgments, 5then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.’
6“If ever you or any of your descendants#Or “children” turn from following me and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, 7then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. 8This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, ‘On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?’ 9And they will say, ‘Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors#Or “fathers” out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.’ ”
Solomon and Hiram Complete Their Agreement
10It happened at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, 11since Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with wood of cedar and with wood of cypresses and with the gold according to all his desire, then King Solomon gave twenty cities in the land of the Galilee to Hiram. 12So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes. 13So he said, “What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul until this day.#Literally “So he called them the land of Cabul up to this day” 14Then Hiram sent to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.
Solomon’s Accomplishments
15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of Yahweh and his house, the Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burnt it with fire. He had also killed the Canaanites who were living in the city and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of Solomon. 17Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-Horon, 18as well as Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness in the land; 19and he also built all of the storage cities which were Solomon’s, the cities for the chariots, the cities for the cavalry, and all of Solomon’s desire that he wanted#Or “desired” to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.
20All of the people who were remaining from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who were not of the Israelites,#Literally “sons/children of Israel” 21their children who remained after them in the land, whom the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” were not able to completely destroy, Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, until this very day. 22But from the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” Solomon did not make a slave, but they were the men of war, his officers, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. 23These were the commanders of the overseers who were over the work for Solomon, five hundred and fifty, ruling over the people doing the work.
24As soon as the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David to her house which he#That is, Solomon built for her, then he built the Millo.
25Solomon sacrificed three times a year: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he had built to Yahweh, and he offered incense with it before Yahweh; and so he completed the house.
26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea#Literally “sea of reed” in the land of Edom. 27Hiram sent his servants with the fleet of ships, sailors#Literally “men of ships” who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and they brought it to King Solomon.
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