Solomon’s Other Activities^(A)

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace— ¹¹ King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold^(B) he wanted. ¹² But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. ¹³ “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul,^[a](C) a name they have to this day. ¹⁴ Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents^[b] of gold.^(D)

¹⁵ Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted^(E) to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces,^[c](F) the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor,^(G) Megiddo and Gezer.^{(H) 16} (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter,^(I) Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,^{(J) 18} Baalath,^(K) and Tadmor^[d] in the desert, within his land, ¹⁹ as well as all his store cities^(L) and the towns for his chariots^(M) and for his horses^[e]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

²⁰ There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites,^(N) Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(O) (these peoples were not Israelites). ²¹ Solomon conscripted the descendants^(P) of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate^[f](Q)—to serve as slave labor,^(R) as it is to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make slaves^(S) of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ²³ They were also the chief officials^(T) in charge of Solomon’s projects—550 officials supervising those who did the work.

²⁴ After Pharaoh’s daughter^(U) had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the terraces.^(V)

Solomon’s Other Activities^(A)

8 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the Lord and his own palace,^{(B) 2} Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram^[a] had given him, and settled Israelites in them. ³ Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. ⁴ He also built up Tadmor in the desert and all the store cities he had built in Hamath.^{(C) 5} He rebuilt Upper Beth Horon^(D) and Lower Beth Horon as fortified cities, with walls and with gates and bars, ⁶ as well as Baalath^(E) and all his store cities, and all the cities for his chariots and for his horses^[b]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

⁷ There were still people left from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(F) (these people were not Israelites). ⁸ Solomon conscripted^(G) the descendants of all these people remaining in the land—whom the Israelites had not destroyed—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were his fighting men, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ¹⁰ They were also King Solomon’s chief officials—two hundred and fifty officials supervising the men.

¹¹ Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter^(H) up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

¹² On the altar^(I) of the Lord that he had built in front of the portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord, ¹³ according to the daily requirement^(J) for offerings commanded by Moses for the Sabbaths,^(K) the New Moons^(L) and the three^(M) annual festivals—the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(N) the Festival of Weeks^(O) and the Festival of Tabernacles.^{(P) 14} In keeping with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions^(Q) of the priests for their duties, and the Levites^(R) to lead the praise and to assist the priests according to each day’s requirement. He also appointed the gatekeepers^(S) by divisions for the various gates, because this was what David the man of God^(T) had ordered.^{(U) 15} They did not deviate from the king’s commands to the priests or to the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries.

¹⁶ All Solomon’s work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid until its completion. So the temple of the Lord was finished.