1 Kings 9
9
1 WHEN SOLOMON finished the building of the Lord's house and the king's house, and all he desired and was pleased to do,
2 The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 The Lord told him, I have heard your prayer and supplication which you have made before Me; I have hallowed this house which you have built, and I have put My Name [and My Presence] there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.
4 And if you will walk before Me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, keeping My statutes and My precepts,
5 Then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, There shall not fail you [to have] a man upon the throne of Israel.
6 But if you turn away from following Me, you or your children, and will not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you but go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 Then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them, and this house I have hallowed for My Name (renown) I will cast from My sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.
8 This house shall become a heap of ruins; every passerby shall be astonished and shall hiss [with surprise] and say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?
9 Then they will answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, Who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have laid hold of other gods and have worshiped and served them; therefore the Lord has brought on them all this evil.
10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord's house and the king's house,
11 For which Hiram king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with as much cedar and cypress timber and gold as he desired, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 And Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.
13 He said, What are these cities worth which you have given me, my brother? So they are called the Cabul [unproductive] Land to this day.
14 And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
15 This is the account of the levy [of forced labor] which King Solomon raised to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer, burned it with fire, slew the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,
18 Baalath and Tamar (Tadmor) in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,
19 And all the store cities which Solomon had and cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites,
21 Their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon made a forced levy of slaves to this day.
22 But Solomon made no slaves of the Israelites; they were the soldiers, his officials, attendants, commanders, captains, chariot officers, and horsemen.
23 These were the chief officers over Solomon's work, 550 who had charge of the people who did the work.
24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he built to the Lord, and he burned incense with them before the Lord. So he finished the house.
26 And King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in Edom.
27 And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
28 They came to Ophir and got 420 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
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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