I Kings 9
9
God’s Second Appearance to Solomon
1And #2 Chr. 7:11it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord #1 Kin. 7:1and the king’s house, and #2 Chr. 8:6all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 2that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, #1 Kin. 3:5; 11:9; 2 Chr. 1:7as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3And the Lord said to him: #2 Kin. 20:5; Ps. 10:17“I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built #1 Kin. 8:29to put My name there forever, and #Deut. 11:12My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4Now if you #Gen. 17:1walk before Me #1 Kin. 11:4, 6; 15:5as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you #1 Kin. 8:61keep My statutes and My judgments, 5then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, #2 Sam. 7:12, 16; 1 Kin. 2:4; 6:12; 8:25; 1 Chr. 22:10; Matt. 1:6; 25:31as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6#2 Sam. 7:14–16; 2 Chr. 7:19, 20; Ps. 89:30But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7#(Lev. 18:24–29); Deut. 4:26; 2 Kin. 17:23; 25:21then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated #(Jer. 7:4–14)for My name I will cast out of My sight. #Deut. 28:37; Ps. 44:14; Jer. 24:9Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8And as for #2 Chr. 7:21this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, #(Deut. 29:24–26); Jer. 22:8, 9‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this #(Deut. 29:25–28)calamity on them.’ ”
Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts
10Now #1 Kin. 6:37, 38; 7:1; 2 Chr. 8:1it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 11#1 Kin. 5:1(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. 13So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” #Josh. 19:27And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day. 14Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
Solomon’s Additional Achievements
15And this is the reason for #1 Kin. 5:13the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the #2 Sam. 5:9; 1 Kin. 9:24Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, #Josh. 11:1; 19:36Hazor, #Josh. 17:11Megiddo, and #Josh. 16:10Gezer. 16(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, #Josh. 16:10; Judg. 1:29had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17And Solomon built Gezer, Lower #Josh. 10:10; 16:3; 21:22; 2 Chr. 8:5Beth Horon, 18#Josh. 19:44; 2 Chr. 8:4Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for #1 Kin. 10:26; 2 Chr. 1:14his chariots and cities for his #1 Kin. 4:26cavalry, and whatever Solomon #1 Kin. 9:1desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20#2 Chr. 8:7All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— 21that is, their descendants #Judg. 1:21–36; 3:1who were left in the land after them, #Josh. 15:63; 17:12, 13whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—#Judg. 1:28, 35from these Solomon raised #Ezra 2:55, 58; Neh. 7:57forced labor, as it is to this day. 22But of the children of Israel Solomon #(Lev. 25:39)made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.
23Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: #2 Chr. 8:10five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.
24But #1 Kin. 3:1Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to #1 Kin. 7:8her house which Solomon had built for her. #2 Sam. 5:9; 1 Kin. 11:27; 2 Chr. 32:5Then he built the Millo.
25#Ex. 23:14–17; Deut. 16:16; 2 Chr. 8:12, 13Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the temple.
26#2 Chr. 8:17, 18King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at #Num. 33:35; Deut. 2:8; 1 Kin. 22:48Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27#1 Kin. 5:6, 9; 10:11Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. 28And they went to #Job 22:24Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
Currently Selected:
I Kings 9: NKJV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 9
9
The Lord’s Response to Solomon
1So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do. 2Then the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had done before at Gibeon. 3The Lord said to him,
“I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.
4“As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, 5then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’
6“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, 7then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. 8And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’
9“And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.’”
Solomon’s Agreement with Hiram
10It took Solomon twenty years to build the Lord’s Temple and his own royal palace. At the end of that time, 11he gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre. (Hiram had previously provided all the cedar and cypress timber and gold that Solomon had requested.) 12But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him, he was not at all pleased with them. 13“What kind of towns are these, my brother?” he asked. So Hiram called that area Cabul (which means “worthless”), as it is still known today. 14Nevertheless, Hiram paid#9:14a Or For Hiram had paid. Solomon 9,000 pounds#9:14b Hebrew 120 talents [4,000 kilograms]. of gold.
Solomon’s Many Achievements
15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, the supporting terraces,#9:15 Hebrew the millo; also in 9:24. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16(Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, killing the Canaanite population and burning it down. He gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Solomon. 17So Solomon rebuilt the city of Gezer.) He also built up the towns of Lower Beth-horon, 18Baalath, and Tamar#9:18 An alternate reading in the Masoretic Text reads Tadmor. in the wilderness within his land. 19He built towns as supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses#9:19 Or and charioteers. could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm.
20There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 21These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not completely destroyed.#9:21 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. So Solomon conscripted them as slaves, and they serve as forced laborers to this day. 22But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for forced labor. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, government officials, officers and captains in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. 23Solomon appointed 550 of them to supervise the people working on his various projects.
24Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. Then he constructed the supporting terraces.
25Three times each year Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished the work of building the Temple.
26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, a port near Elath#9:26a As in Greek version (see also 2 Kgs 14:22; 16:6); Hebrew reads Eloth, a variant spelling of Elath. in the land of Edom, along the shore of the Red Sea.#9:26b Hebrew sea of reeds. 27Hiram sent experienced crews of sailors to sail the ships with Solomon’s men. 28They sailed to Ophir and brought back to Solomon some sixteen tons#9:28 Hebrew 420 talents [14 metric tons]. of gold.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT: