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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1 Kings 9
9
Promise and Warning
1Now it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the House of Adonai, the royal palace and all that Solomon was pleased to do,
2that Adonai appeared to Solomon a second time, just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3Adonai said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your petition that you made before Me. I have consecrated this House, which you have built, to put My Name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there every day.
4“As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked—in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing all I commanded you, keeping My statutes and My ordinances—
5then I will establish the throne of your kingship over Israel forever, as I promised your father David saying: ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
6“But if you or your sons will indeed turn away from following Me—not keeping My mitzvot and My statutes that I set before you—and go and serve other gods and worship them,
7then will I cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and this House which I have consecrated for My Name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8This House, now so exalted—everyone passing by it will gasp in shock and hiss, saying: ‘Why has Adonai done thus to this land and to this House?’
9They will be told: ‘Because they forsook Adonai their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshipped them and served them, therefore Adonai has brought all this evil on them.’”
Solomon’s Economic Achievements
10Now at the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses—Adonai’s House and the royal palace—
11since King Hiram of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar and cypress logs and with gold for all his desire—in return King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee.
12So Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.
13He said, “What are these cities that you’ve given me, my brother?” So they have been called the land of Kabul to this day.
14(Hiram had also sent to the king 120 talents of gold.)
15Now this was the purpose of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build Adonai’s House, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.
16Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, captured Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and given it as a dowry for his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
17So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, lower Beth-horon,
18Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness in the land,
19as well as all the storage cities, chariot cities and cavalry cities and that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20As for all 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,
21even their children who remained in the land after them whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy utterly, on them Solomon imposed forced labor until this day.
22But Solomon did not make slaves of the children of Israel, for they were the men of war, his servants, his officials, his captains, his charioteers and his horsemen.
23These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, 550 who supervised the people who did the work.
24As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David to her house built for her, he built the Millo.
25Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he built for Adonai, burning incense with them on the altar that was before Adonai. When he finished the House,
26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Sea of Reeds in the land of Edom.
27Hiram sent his servants with the fleet—sailors who knew the sea—along with Solomon’s servants.
28So they went to Ophir and took from there 420 talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.
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