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.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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1 Kings 9
9
1And it came to pass when Solomon had completed the building of the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, 2that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3And Jehovah said to him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication which thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. 4And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and mine ordinances; 5then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 6But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments, my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; 7then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and the house, which I have hallowed to my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a by word among all peoples; 8and this house, which is high, every one that passes by it shall be astonished at, and shall hiss, and they shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house? 9And they shall say, Because they forsook Jehovah their God#GodHebrew: Elohim who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have attached themselves to other gods, and have worshipped them and served them; therefore has Jehovah brought upon them all this evil.
10And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king's house, 11Hiram the king of Tyre having furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and cypress-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire, — that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him; and they did not please him. 13And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day. 14And Hiram had sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
15And this is the account of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. 16— Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer, and burned it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. 17— And Solomon built Gezer, and lower Beth-horon, 18and Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 19and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and cities for chariots, and cities for the horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and on Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20All the people that were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel, 21their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, upon them did Solomon impose a tribute of bondservice until this day. 22But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen; but they were men of war, and his servants, and his chiefs, and his captains, and captains of his chariots, and his horsemen. 23These were the chief superintendents that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, that ruled over the people that wrought in the work. 24But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which he had built for her: then he built Millo. 25And three times in the year did Solomon offer up burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar that he had built to Jehovah, and he burned incense upon that which was before Jehovah. So he finished the house. 26And king Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion-Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27And Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon; 28and they went to Ophir, and fetched thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.