1 Kings 9
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord Answers Solomon’s Prayer(A)
9 Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and everything ⌞else⌟ he wanted to build. 2 Then the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him,
“I have heard your prayer for mercy that you made to me.
I have declared that this temple which you have built is holy
so that my name may be placed there forever.
My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4 “If you will be faithful to me as your father David was
(with a sincere and upright heart),
do everything I command,
and keep my laws and rules,
5 then I will establish your royal dynasty over Israel forever
as I promised your father David when I said,
‘You will never fail to have an heir on the throne of Israel.’
6 But if you and your descendants dare to turn away from me
and do not keep my commands and laws that I gave to you,
and follow and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut Israel out of the land I gave them.
I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name.
Israel will be an example
and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.
8 Everyone passing by this temple, as impressive as it is, will be appalled.
They will gasp and ask,
‘Why did the Lord do these things to this land and this temple?’
9 They will answer ⌞themselves⌟,
‘They abandoned the Lord their God,
who brought their ancestors out of Egypt.
They adopted other gods, worshiped, and served them.
That is why the Lord brought this disaster on them.’ ”
Solomon Completes His Construction(B)
10 It took Solomon 20 years to build the two houses (the Lord’s house and the royal palace). 11 ⌞When King Solomon had finished,⌟ he gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 cities in Galilee. (Hiram had supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress lumber and gold as he wanted.) 12 Hiram left Tyre to see the cities Solomon gave him. However, they didn’t please him. 13 “What kind of cities have you given me, brother?” he asked. So he named it the region of Cabul [Good for Nothing]. (⌞They’re⌟ still ⌞called⌟ that today.) 14 Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds of gold.
15 This is the record of the forced laborers whom King Solomon drafted to build the Lord’s house, his own house, the Millo,[a] the walls of Jerusalem, and ⌞the cities of⌟ Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 (The king of Egypt captured Gezer, burned it down, and killed the Canaanites living there. Then he gave it to his daughter, Solomon’s wife, as a wedding present.) 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, Tadmor in the desert (inside the country), and 19 all the storage cities that he owned. He also built cities for his chariots, cities for his war horses, and whatever ⌞else⌟ he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or the entire territory that he governed.
20 The Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites had been left ⌞in the land⌟ because the Israelites had not been able to claim them for God by destroying them.[b] They were not Israelites, 21 but they had descendants who were still in the land. Solomon drafted them for slave labor. (They are still ⌞slaves⌟ today.) 22 But Solomon didn’t make any of the Israelites slaves. Instead, they were soldiers, officials, officers, generals, and commanders of his chariot and cavalry units.
23 These were the officers in charge of Solomon’s projects: 550 foremen for the people who did the work.
24 Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he built for the Lord. He burnt them on the altar that was in the Lord’s presence. And he finished the temple.
26 King Solomon also built a fleet near the Red Sea coast at Ezion Geber by Elath in Edom. 27 Hiram sent his own servants ⌞who were⌟ experienced seamen with the fleet. Along with Solomon’s servants 28 they went to Ophir, got 31,500 pounds of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.
1 Kings 9
King James Version
9 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,
2 That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.
3 And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:
5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye 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 will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:
8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?
9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.
10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king's house,
11 (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.
13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.
14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.
15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife.
17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether,
18 And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,
19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,
21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
22 But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.
23 These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.
24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.
25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.
26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.
27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
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