1 Kings 9
9
Solomon again meets God
1Now once Solomon finished building the LORD’s temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to accomplish, 2the LORD appeared to him a second time in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your cry to me. I have set apart this temple that you built, to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4As for you, if you walk before me just as your father David did, with complete dedication and honesty, and if you do all that I have commanded, and keep my regulations and case laws, 5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 6However, if you or your sons turn away from following me and don’t observe the commands and regulations that I gave you, and go to serve other gods, and worship them, 7then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and I will reject the temple that I dedicated for my name. Israel will become a joke, insulted by everyone. 8Everyone who passes by this temple, so lofty now,#9.8 Or will become high; OL, Syr, Tg will become a ruin will be shocked and will whistle, wondering, Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and this temple? 9The answer will come: Because they deserted the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt’s land. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.”
Solomon’s buildings and prosperity
10It took twenty years for Solomon to build the two structures, the LORD’s temple and the royal palace. 11King Hiram of Tyre gave Solomon all the cedar, pinewood, and gold that he wanted. Then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. 12Hiram went from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him. They didn’t seem adequate in his view. 13So Hiram remarked, “My brother, are these towns you’ve given me good for anything?” The cities are thus called the land of Cabul to this very day. 14But Hiram sent the king one hundred twenty gold kikkars, nevertheless.
15This is the story of the labor gang that King Solomon put together to build the LORD’s temple and his own palace, as well as the stepped structure, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer: (16Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, had attacked and captured Gezer, setting it on fire. He killed the Canaanites who lived in the city and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness (within the land), 19along with all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, as well as the cities used for storing chariots and cavalry and whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom. 20Any non-Israelite people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— 21that is, the descendants of such people who were still in the land because the Israelites weren’t able to wipe them out—Solomon forced into the labor gangs that are still in existence today. 22However, Solomon didn’t force the Israelites to work as slaves; instead, they became warriors, his servants, his leaders, his officers, and those in charge of his chariots and cavalry.
23These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty had charge of the people who did the work. 24When Pharaoh’s daughter went up from David’s City to the palace he had built for her, Solomon built the stepped structure. 25Three times a year Solomon would offer entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices on the altar that he had built for the LORD. Along with this he would burn incense to the LORD. In this way, he completed the temple.#9.25 Heb uncertain 26King Solomon built a fleet near Eloth in Ezion-geber, on the coast of the Reed Sea#9.26 Traditionally Red Sea in the land of Edom. 27Hiram sent his expert sailors on the fleet along with Solomon’s workers. 28They went to Ophir for four hundred twenty kikkars of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.
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1 Kings 9: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 9
9
God Appears to Solomon Again
(2 Chr 7.11–22)
1After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build, 2#1 Kgs 3.5; 2 Chr 1.7the LORD appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon. 3The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshipped for ever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time. 4If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you, 5#1 Kgs 2.4I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. 6But if you or your descendants stop following me, if you disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods, 7then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshipped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt. 8#2 Kgs 25.9; 2 Chr 36.19This Temple will become a pile of ruins,#9.8 Some ancient translations a pile of ruins; Hebrew high. and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. ‘Why did the LORD do this to this land and this Temple?’ they will ask. 9People will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshipped them. That is why the LORD has brought this disaster on them.’ ”
Solomon's Agreement with Hiram
(2 Chr 8.1–2)
10It took Solomon twenty years to build the Temple and his palace. 11King Hiram of Tyre had provided him with all the cedar and pine and with all the gold he wanted for this work. After it was finished, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. 12Hiram went to see them, and he did not like them. 13So he said to Solomon, “So these, my brother, are the towns you have given me!” For this reason the area is still called Cabul.#9.13 Cabul: This name sounds like “ke-bal”, the Hebrew for “worthless”. 14Hiram had sent Solomon more than four tonnes of gold.
Further Achievements of Solomon
(2 Chr 8.3–18)
15King Solomon used forced labour to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16(The king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it, killing its inhabitants and setting fire to the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon, 17and Solomon rebuilt it.) Using his forced labour, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon, 18Baalath, Tamar in the Judean wilderness, 19the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom. 20-21For his forced labour Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, whose descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time. 22Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites; they served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and horsemen.
23There were 550 officials in charge of the forced labour working on Solomon's various building projects.
24Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her.
25 #
Ex 23.17; 34.23; Deut 16.16 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to the LORD. He also burnt incense#9.25 Hebrew has two additional words, the meaning of which is unclear. to the LORD. And so he finished building the Temple.
26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber, which is near Elath, on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. 27King Hiram sent some experienced seamen from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men. 28They sailed to the land of Ophir, and brought back to Solomon more than fourteen tonnes of gold.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.