Solomon’s Other Buildings

7 But Solomon took ^(A)thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house.

² He also built the ^(B)House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was ^[a]one hundred cubits, its width ^[b]fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars. ³ And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row. ⁴ There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers. ⁵ And all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames; and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁶ He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy was in front of them.

⁷ Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge; and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ^[c]ceiling.

⁸ And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, ^(C)whom he had taken as wife.

⁹ All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. ¹¹ And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar wood. ¹² The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the ^(D)inner court of the house of the Lord ^(E)and the vestibule of the temple.

¹¹ Thus ^(A)Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon^(B)

¹² Then the Lord ^(C)appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, ^(D)and have chosen this ^(E)place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (F)When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are ^(G)called by My name will ^(H)humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, ^(I)then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now ^(J)My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now ^(K)I have chosen and ^[a]sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and ^[b]My eyes and ^[c]My heart will be there perpetually. ^17 (L)As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, ¹⁸ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ^(M)‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

^19 (N)“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, ^20 (O)then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have ^[d]sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a ^(P)byword among all peoples.

²¹ “And as for ^(Q)this ^[e]house, which ^[f]is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be ^(R)astonished and say, ^(S)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ ²² Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts

¹⁰ Now ^(A)it 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 (B)(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. ¹² Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. ¹³ So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” ^(C)And he called them the land of ^[a]Cabul, as they are to this day. ¹⁴ Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Solomon’s Additional Achievements^(D)

¹⁵ And this is the reason for ^(E)the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, ^[b]the ^(F)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, ^(G)Hazor, ^(H)Megiddo, and ^(I)Gezer.

¹⁷ And Solomon built Gezer, Lower ^(A)Beth Horon, ^18 (B)Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, ¹⁹ all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for ^(C)his chariots and cities for his ^(D)cavalry, and whatever Solomon ^(E)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

^20 (F)All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— ²¹ that is, their descendants ^(G)who were left in the land after them, ^(H)whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—^(I)from these Solomon raised ^(J)forced labor, as it is to this day. ²² But of the children of Israel Solomon ^(K)made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

²³ Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: ^(L)five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

¹¹ Now Solomon ^(A)brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, ¹³ according to the ^(B)daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the ^(C)three appointed yearly ^(D)feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴ And, according to the ^[a]order of David his father, he appointed the ^(E)divisions of the priests for their service, ^(F)the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ^(G)gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ^(H)treasuries.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered ^[b]from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(I)Ezion Geber and ^[c]Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. ^18 (J)And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to ^(K)Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.