1 Kings 9
International Standard Version
God Appears to Solomon(A)
9 Later, after Solomon had finished building the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, and everything else that Solomon wanted to do, 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon for a second time, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord told him:
“I’ve heard your prayer and your request that you made to me. I have consecrated this Temple that you have built by placing my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there continuously.
4 “Now as for you, if you commune with me like your father did, with an upright heart of integrity and doing everything that I’ve commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances, 5 then I’ll make your royal throne secure forever, just as I agreed to do so for your father David when I said, ‘You are to not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you or your descendants abandon me, and do not keep my commandments and statutes that I have given to you, and if you go away, serve other gods, and worship them, 7 then I will eliminate Israel from the land that I gave them and from the Temple that I’ve consecrated for my name. I will throw them out of my sight, and Israel will become the butt of jokes[a] and a means of ridicule among people worldwide!
8 “This Temple will become a pile of ruins. Everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and to this Temple?’ 9 They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and served them. That’s why the Lord has brought all of this disaster on them.’”
Solomon Cedes Cities to Hiram
10 It took 20 years for Solomon to finish working on the two houses—the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace— 11 after which King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee, because King Hiram of Tyre had provided Solomon with as much cedar, cypress timber, and gold as he wanted. 12 Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but he wasn’t happy with them, 13 so he asked him, “What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?” That’s why these cities were named “the land of Cabal”[b] to this day. 14 Then Hiram paid the king 120 talents[c] of gold.
Solomon’s Other Accomplishments(B)
15 Here is a summary of the conscripted labor that King Solomon required to build the Lord’s Temple, his royal palace, the terrace ramparts in the City of David,[d] the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and then gave it as a dowry for his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, lower Beth-horon, 18 Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, 19 along with the storage cities that Solomon used for his chariots and for his cavalry, everything that Solomon felt like building in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in every territory under his control.
20 The people who survived from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not related to the Israelis, 21 and whose descendants had survived them and continued to live in the land because the Israelis were unable to completely eliminate them, Solomon placed under conscripted labor, a situation that remains in effect to this day. 22 However, Solomon did not force Israelis into conscripted labor, but they did serve as his soldiers, servants, princes, captains, chariot commanders, and cavalry. 23 There were 550 chief officers who supervised Solomon’s activities and managed the staff that was doing the work.
24 As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter arrived from the City of David to live in her house that Solomon[e] had built for her, then he fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David.[f] 25 Three times every year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built to the Lord, burning incense with the offerings in the presence of the Lord.
This concludes the record of the Temple construction.
Solomon’s Business Ventures(C)
26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Reed[g] Sea in the land of Edom. 27 Hiram sent his servants to sail with the fleet, since they were expert seamen, and so they accompanied Solomon’s servants. 28 They sailed as far as Ophir[h] and brought back 420 talents[i] of gold for Solomon.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 9:7 Lit. become an object of mockery
- 1 Kings 9:13 The Heb. name Cabul means as good as nothing
- 1 Kings 9:14 I.e. about 9,000 pounds; a talent weighed about 75 pounds
- 1 Kings 9:15 Lit. the Millo, fortified areas of ancient Jerusalem with terraces and retaining walls
- 1 Kings 9:24 Lit. he
- 1 Kings 9:24 Lit. the Millo, fortified areas of ancient Jerusalem with terraces and retaining walls
- 1 Kings 9:26 So MT; LXX reads Red
- 1 Kings 9:28 Or as a source of fine gold; cf. 1Chr 29:4
- 1 Kings 9:28 I.e. about 31,500 pounds; a talent weighed about 75 pounds
1 Kings 9
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
9 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 [a]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.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 9:19 Once on the throne Solomon became a thoroughgoing despot. All political power was taken out of the hands of the tribal sheiks... and placed in the hands of officers who were simply puppets of Solomon. The resources of the nation were expended not on works of public utility but on the personal aggrandizement of the monarch. In the means he took to gratify his passions he showed himself to be little better than a savage (James Orr et al., eds., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). The division of the nation at Solomon’s death with all the weakness and misery that it caused [idolatry, ignoring God, captivity, exile, the loss of the ten tribes] through the coming centuries was the direct outgrowth of Solomon’s unholy self-indulgence (Amos R. Wells, Bible Miniatures). Because of his extensive building program and his extravagant expenditures in the maintenance of his luxurious court, he resorted to forced labor and heavy taxation. Bitter opposition to his rule thus engendered the division of the united kingdom after his death (The New Jewish Encyclopedia).
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