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Yahweh Appears to Solomon

(A)Now it happened when Solomon had completed building the house of Yahweh, and (B)the king’s house, and (C)all [a]that Solomon desired to do, that (D)Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. And Yahweh said to him, “(E)I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have set apart as holy this house which you have built (F)by putting My name there forever, and (G)My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, (H)if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My judgments, then (I)I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I [b]promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not have a man cut off from the throne of Israel.’

(J)But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have given before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, (K)then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and (L)the house which I have set apart as holy for My name, I will [c]cast out of My presence. So (M)Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become [d](N)a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will feel desolate and hiss and say, ‘(O)Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘(P)Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore Yahweh has brought all this calamity on them.’”

Cities Given to Hiram

10 (Q)Now it happened that (R)at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king’s house 11 (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold according to all his desire), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 So Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they were not right in his eyes. 13 And he said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So [e]they were called the land of [f](S)Cabul to this day. 14 (T)And Hiram sent to the king [g]120 talents of gold.

Solomon Builds Cities and Ships

15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon (U)raised up to build the house of Yahweh, his own house, the [h](V)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, (W)Hazor, (X)Megiddo, and (Y)Gezer. 16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the (Z)Canaanites who lived in the city, and had (AA)given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower (AB)Beth-horon 18 and (AC)Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, and (AD)the cities for [i]his chariots, and the cities for [j](AE)his horsemen, and [k](AF)all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land [l]under his rule. 20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, 21 (AG)namely, their sons who were left after them in the land (AH)whom the sons of Israel were unable to devote to destruction, from (AI)them Solomon raised up (AJ)forced laborers to this day. 22 But Solomon (AK)did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

23 These were the [m](AL)chief deputies who were over Solomon’s work, 550, (AM)who had dominion over the people doing the work.

24 As soon as (AN)Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, (AO)then he built the Millo.

25 And (AP)three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh, burning incense with them on the altar which was before Yahweh. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon also made a (AQ)fleet of ships in (AR)Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the [n]Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 (AS)And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet of ships, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to (AT)Ophir and took from there 420 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:1 Lit Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do
  2. 1 Kings 9:5 Lit spoke
  3. 1 Kings 9:7 Lit send
  4. 1 Kings 9:8 Heb high
  5. 1 Kings 9:13 Lit he called them
  6. 1 Kings 9:13 Lit as good as nothing
  7. 1 Kings 9:14 Approx. 4.5 tons or 4 metric tons, a talent was approx. 75 lb. or 34 kg
  8. 1 Kings 9:15 Citadel
  9. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the
  10. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the
  11. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem
  12. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit of
  13. 1 Kings 9:23 Or officers of the deputies
  14. 1 Kings 9:26 Lit Sea of Reeds

Solomon again meets God

Now once Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to accomplish, the Lord appeared to him a second time in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your cry to me. I have set apart this temple that you built, to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. As for you, if you walk before me just as your father David did, with complete dedication and honesty, and if you do all that I have commanded, and keep my regulations and case laws, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ However, if you or your sons turn away from following me and don’t observe the commands and regulations that I gave you, and go to serve other gods, and worship them, then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and I will reject the temple that I dedicated for my name. Israel will become a joke, insulted by everyone. Everyone who passes by this temple, so lofty now,[a] will be shocked and will whistle, wondering, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this temple? The answer will come: Because they deserted the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt’s land. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.”

Solomon’s buildings and prosperity

10 It took twenty years for Solomon to build the two structures, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. 11 King Hiram of Tyre gave Solomon all the cedar, pinewood, and gold that he wanted. Then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. 12 Hiram went from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him. They didn’t seem adequate in his view. 13 So Hiram remarked, “My brother, are these towns you’ve given me good for anything?” The cities are thus called the land of Cabul to this very day. 14 But Hiram sent the king one hundred twenty gold kikkars, nevertheless.

15 This is the story of the labor gang that King Solomon put together to build the Lord’s temple and his own palace, as well as the stepped structure, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer: (16 Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, had attacked and captured Gezer, setting it on fire. He killed the Canaanites who lived in the city and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18 Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness (within the land), 19 along with all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, as well as the cities used for storing chariots and cavalry and whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom. 20 Any non-Israelite people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— 21 that is, the descendants of such people who were still in the land because the Israelites weren’t able to wipe them out—Solomon forced into the labor gangs that are still in existence today. 22 However, Solomon didn’t force the Israelites to work as slaves; instead, they became warriors, his servants, his leaders, his officers, and those in charge of his chariots and cavalry.

23 These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty had charge of the people who did the work. 24 When Pharaoh’s daughter went up from David’s City to the palace he had built for her, Solomon built the stepped structure. 25 Three times a year Solomon would offer entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices on the altar that he had built for the Lord. Along with this he would burn incense to the Lord. In this way, he completed the temple.[b] 26 King Solomon built a fleet near Eloth in Ezion-geber, on the coast of the Reed Sea[c] in the land of Edom. 27 Hiram sent his expert sailors on the fleet along with Solomon’s workers. 28 They went to Ophir for four hundred twenty kikkars of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:8 Or will become high; OL, Syr, Tg will become a ruin
  2. 1 Kings 9:25 Heb uncertain
  3. 1 Kings 9:26 Traditionally Red Sea