Solomon’s Other Achievements

8 By the end of twenty years, Solomon had built the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace. ² Solomon rebuilt the towns that Hiram had given him, and Solomon sent Israelites to live in them. ³ Then he went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. ⁴ Solomon also built the town of Tadmor in the desert, and he built all the towns in Hamath as towns for storing grain and supplies. ⁵ He rebuilt the towns of Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, protecting them with strong walls, gates, and bars in the gates. ⁶ He also rebuilt the town of Baalath. And he built all the other towns for storage and all the cities for his chariots and horses. He built all he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and everywhere he ruled.

⁷ There were other people in the land who were not Israelites—the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁸ They were descendants of the people that the Israelites had not destroyed. Solomon forced them to be slave workers, as is still true today. ⁹ But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites. They were his soldiers, chief captains, commanders of his chariots, and his chariot drivers. ¹⁰ These were his most important officers. There were two hundred fifty of them to direct the people.

¹¹ Solomon brought the daughter of the king of Egypt from the older part of Jerusalem to the palace he had built for her. Solomon said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace, because the places where the Ark of the Agreement has been are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built for the Lord in front of the Temple porch. ¹³ He offered sacrifices every day as Moses had commanded. They were offered on the Sabbath days, New Moons, and the three yearly feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Shelters. ¹⁴ Solomon followed his father David’s instructions and chose the groups of priests for their service and the Levites to lead the praise and to help the priests do their daily work. And he chose the gatekeepers by their groups to serve at each gate, as David, the man of God, had commanded. ¹⁵ They obeyed all of Solomon’s commands to the priests and Levites, as well as his commands about the treasuries.

¹⁶ All Solomon’s work was done as he had said from the day the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was begun, until it was finished. So the Temple was finished.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to the towns of Ezion Geber and Elath near the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Hiram sent ships to Solomon that were commanded by his own men, who were skilled sailors. Hiram’s men went with Solomon’s men to Ophir and brought back about thirty-four thousand pounds of gold to King Solomon.