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1 Kings 9
New English Translation

The Lord Gives Solomon a Promise and a Warning

9 After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned,[a] 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon.[b] 3 The Lord said to him, “I have answered[c] your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home;[d] I will be constantly present there.[e] 4 You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations.[f] 5 Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently,[g] just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’[h]

6 “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep,[i] and decide to serve and worship other gods,[j] 7 then I will remove Israel from the land[k] I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence,[l] and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed[m] among all the nations. 8 This temple will become a heap of ruins;[n] everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn,[o] saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’ 9 Others will then answer,[p] ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors[q] out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served.[r] That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

Foreign Affairs and Building Projects

10 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and the royal palace,[s] 11 King Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre twenty towns in the region of Galilee, because Hiram had supplied Solomon with cedars, evergreens, and all the gold he wanted. 12 When Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.[t] 13 Hiram asked,[u] “Why did you give me these towns, my friend?”[v] He called that area the region of Cabul, a name which it has retained to this day.[w] 14 Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents[x] of gold.

15 Here are the details concerning the work crews[y] King Solomon conscripted[z] to build the Lord’s temple, his palace, the terrace, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of[aa] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer. He burned it and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city. He gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, who had married Solomon.) 17 Solomon built up Gezer, lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, Tadmor in the wilderness,[ab] 19 all the storage cities that belonged to him,[ac] and the cities where chariots and horses were kept.[ad] He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.[ae] 20 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.[af] 21 Their descendants remained in the land (the Israelites were unable to wipe them out completely). Solomon conscripted them for his work crews, and they continue in that role to this very day.[ag] 22 Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews;[ah] the Israelites served as his soldiers, attendants, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.[ai] 23 These men were also in charge of Solomon’s work projects; there were a total of 550 men who supervised the workers.[aj] 24 Solomon built the terrace as soon as Pharaoh’s daughter moved up from the City of David[ak] to the palace Solomon built for her.[al]

25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings[am] on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense along with them before the Lord. He made the temple his official worship place.[an]

26 King Solomon also built ships[ao] in Ezion Geber, which is located near Elat in the land of Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27 Hiram sent his fleet and some of his sailors, who were well acquainted with the sea, to serve with Solomon’s men.[ap] 28 They sailed[aq] to Ophir, took from there 420 talents[ar] of gold, and then brought them to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:1 tn Heb “and all the desire of Solomon which he wanted to do.”
  2. 1 Kings 9:2 sn In the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. See 1 Kgs 3:5.
  3. 1 Kings 9:3 tn Heb “I have heard.”
  4. 1 Kings 9:3 tn Heb “by placing my name there perpetually” (or perhaps, “forever”).
  5. 1 Kings 9:3 tn Heb “and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.”
  6. 1 Kings 9:4 tn Heb “As for you, if you walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, by doing all which I commanded you, [and] you keep my rules and my regulations.” Verse 4 is actually a lengthy protasis (“if” section) of a conditional sentence, the apodosis (“then” section) of which appears in v. 5.
  7. 1 Kings 9:5 tn Heb “I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever.”
  8. 1 Kings 9:5 tn Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from upon the throne of Israel.”
  9. 1 Kings 9:6 tn Heb “which I placed before you.”
  10. 1 Kings 9:6 tn Heb “and walk and serve other gods and bow down to them.”
  11. 1 Kings 9:7 tn Heb “I will cut off Israel from upon the surface of the land.”
  12. 1 Kings 9:7 tn Heb “and the temple which I consecrated for my name I will send away from before my face.”sn Instead of “I will send away,” the parallel text in 2 Chr 7:20 has “I will throw away.” The two verbs sound very similar in Hebrew, so the discrepancy is likely due to an oral transmissional error.
  13. 1 Kings 9:7 tn Heb “will become a proverb and a taunt,” that is, a proverbial example of destruction and an object of reproach.
  14. 1 Kings 9:8 tn Heb “and this house will be high [or elevated].” The statement makes little sense in this context, which predicts the desolation that judgment will bring. Some treat the clause as concessive, “Even though this temple is lofty [now].” Others, following the lead of several ancient versions, emend the text to, “this temple will become a heap of ruins.”
  15. 1 Kings 9:8 tn Heb “hiss,” or perhaps “whistle.” This refers to a derisive sound one would make when taunting an object of ridicule.
  16. 1 Kings 9:9 tn Heb “and they will say.”
  17. 1 Kings 9:9 tn Heb “fathers.”
  18. 1 Kings 9:9 tn Heb “and they took hold of other gods and bowed down to them and served them.”
  19. 1 Kings 9:10 tn Heb “the two houses, the house of the Lord and the house of the king.”
  20. 1 Kings 9:12 tn Heb “they were not agreeable in his eyes.”
  21. 1 Kings 9:13 tn Heb “and he said.”
  22. 1 Kings 9:13 tn Heb “my brother.” Kings allied through a parity treaty would sometimes address each other as “my brother.” See 1 Kgs 20:32-33.
  23. 1 Kings 9:13 tn Heb “he called them the land of Cabul to this day.” The significance of the name is unclear, though it appears to be disparaging. The name may be derived from a root, attested in Akkadian and Arabic, meaning “bound” or “restricted.” Some propose a wordplay, pointing out that the name “Cabul” sounds like a Hebrew phrase meaning, “like not,” or “as good as nothing.”
  24. 1 Kings 9:14 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 9,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV, NLT); CEV “five tons”; TEV “4,000 kilogrammes.”
  25. 1 Kings 9:15 sn The work crews. This Hebrew word מַס (mas) refers to a group of laborers conscripted for royal or public service.
  26. 1 Kings 9:15 tn Heb “raised up.”
  27. 1 Kings 9:15 tn The words “the cities of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  28. 1 Kings 9:18 tn The Hebrew text has “in the wilderness, in the land.”
  29. 1 Kings 9:19 tn Heb “to Solomon.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  30. 1 Kings 9:19 tn Heb “the cities of the chariots and the cities of the horses.”
  31. 1 Kings 9:19 tn Heb “and the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his kingdom.”
  32. 1 Kings 9:20 tn Heb “all the people who were left from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not from the sons of Israel.”
  33. 1 Kings 9:21 tn Heb “their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were unable to wipe out, and Solomon raised them up for a crew of labor to this day.”
  34. 1 Kings 9:22 sn These work crews. The work crews referred to here must be different than the temporary crews described in 5:13-16.
  35. 1 Kings 9:22 tn Heb “officers of his chariots and his horses.”
  36. 1 Kings 9:23 tn Heb “these [were] the officials of the governors who were over the work belonging to Solomon, five hundred fifty, the ones ruling over the people, the ones doing the work.”
  37. 1 Kings 9:24 sn The phrase City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  38. 1 Kings 9:24 tn Heb “As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to her house which he built for her, then he built the terrace.”
  39. 1 Kings 9:25 tn Or “tokens of peace”; NIV, TEV “fellowship offerings.”
  40. 1 Kings 9:25 tn Heb “and he made complete the house.”
  41. 1 Kings 9:26 tn Or “a fleet” (in which case “ships” would be implied).
  42. 1 Kings 9:27 tn Heb “and Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, men of ships, [who] know the sea, [to be] with the servants of Solomon.”
  43. 1 Kings 9:28 tn Heb “went.”
  44. 1 Kings 9:28 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 31,500 pounds of gold (cf. NCV); CEV, NLT “sixteen tons”; TEV “more than 14,000 kilogrammes.”
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1 Kings 9
English Standard Version

The Lord Appears to Solomon

9 (A)As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord (B)and the king's house and (C)all that Solomon desired to build, 2 (D)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, (E)by putting my name there forever. (F)My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 4 And as for you, if you will (G)walk before me, (H)as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 (I)then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 (J)But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 (K)then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, (L)and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, (M)and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins.[a] Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, (N)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because (O)they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Solomon's Other Acts

10 (P)At the end of (Q)twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house, 11 and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. 13 Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of (R)Cabul to this day. 14 Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents[b] of gold.

15 And this is the account of (S)the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and (T)the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and (U)Hazor and (V)Megiddo and Gezer 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed (W)the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to (X)his daughter, Solomon's wife; 17 so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and (Y)Lower Beth-horon 18 and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,[c] 19 and all the store cities that Solomon had, and (Z)the cities for his chariots, and the cities for (AA)his horsemen, and whatever Solomon (AB)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— 21 (AC)their descendants who were left after them in the land, (AD)whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction[d]—(AE)these Solomon drafted to be (AF)slaves, and so they are to this day. 22 But (AG)of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work: (AH)550 (AI)who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

24 But (AJ)Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to (AK)her own house that Solomon had built for her. (AL)Then he built (AM)the Millo.

25 Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it[e] before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at (AN)Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent (AO)with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to (AP)Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:8 Syriac, Old Latin; Hebrew will become high
  2. 1 Kings 9:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
  3. 1 Kings 9:18 Hebrew lacks of Judah
  4. 1 Kings 9:21 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
  5. 1 Kings 9:25 Septuagint lacks with it
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1 Kings 9
New King James Version

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon(A)

9 And (B)it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord (C)and the king’s house, and (D)all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, (E)as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him: (F)“I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built (G)to put My name there forever, (H)and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 Now if you (I)walk before Me (J)as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you (K)keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, (L)as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 (M)But if you or your sons at all [a]turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 (N)then I will [b]cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated (O)for My name I will cast out of My sight. (P)Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for (Q)this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, (R)‘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 embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this (S)calamity on them.’ ”

Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts

10 Now (T)it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 11 (U)(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. 13 So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” (V)And he called them the land of [c]Cabul, as they are to this day. 14 Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Solomon’s Additional Achievements(W)

15 And this is the reason for (X)the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, [d]the (Y)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, (Z)Hazor, (AA)Megiddo, and (AB)Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, (AC)had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower (AD)Beth Horon, 18 (AE)Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for (AF)his chariots and cities for his (AG)cavalry, and whatever Solomon (AH)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 (AI)All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— 21 that is, their descendants (AJ)who were left in the land after them, (AK)whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—(AL)from these Solomon raised (AM)forced labor, as it is to this day. 22 But of the children of Israel Solomon (AN)made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

23 Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: (AO)five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

24 But (AP)Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to (AQ)her house which [e]Solomon had built for her. (AR)Then he built the Millo.

25 (AS)Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the temple.

26 (AT)King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at (AU)Ezion Geber, which is near [f]Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 (AV)Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to (AW)Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:6 turn back
  2. 1 Kings 9:7 destroy
  3. 1 Kings 9:13 Lit. Good for Nothing
  4. 1 Kings 9:15 Lit. The Landfill
  5. 1 Kings 9:24 Lit. he; cf. 2 Chr. 8:11
  6. 1 Kings 9:26 Heb. Eloth
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1 Kings 9
The Voice

9 After Solomon had constructed the Eternal’s temple, his own palace, and many other building projects that he desired, 2 the Eternal came to Solomon again just as He had at Gibeon.

Eternal One: 3 I have received all the prayers and requests you have prayed to Me, and I have honored what you have asked of Me. I have consecrated this temple, which you have raised, by putting My name there forever. My eyes and heart will be there continuously. 4 If you live before Me just as your father David did—with honor and righteousness, abiding by all that I have commanded you, keeping My laws and judgments— 5 I will sustain your throne over Israel forever as I promised your father David that I would when I said, “Your descendants will never fail to sit upon Israel’s throne.”[a]

6 But if you or your offspring stray from Me, break My commands and laws that I have given you, and serve and worship other gods, 7 then there will be definite consequences to your actions: I will cut Israel out of the land I gave to them, I will remove the temple I consecrated in honor of My name from My sight, and Israel will become the object of jokes for all people of the world. 8 Know that this temple which is now honored will be nothing more than a pile of rubble. All who walk by will shake their heads and ask, “What has driven the Eternal One to do this to our land and temple?” 9 The answer will come, “He did this because they turned their backs on Him—their God who led their ancestors out of Egypt—and gave their hearts to other gods, worshiping and serving them. That is why the Eternal One has done all this misery to them.”

10 Twenty years passed, and Solomon had constructed the two houses: the temple of the Eternal and the palace of the king. 11 Tyre’s king, Hiram, had given Solomon all the cedar, cypress, and gold he desired for those projects, so Solomon granted Hiram twenty cities in Galilee.

12 Hiram traveled from Tyre to view the cities Solomon was giving to him, but he was not satisfied.

Hiram: 13 What is this, my brother? Do you call these cities?

People still refer to these cities as the land of Cabul, meaning “worthless,” even today.

14 Hiram gave approximately 9,000 pounds[b] of gold to Solomon.

15 King Solomon used foreign slave laborers, taken from cities he conquered, for the construction of the Eternal’s temple, the king’s palace, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. What follows is the report of it:

Solomon is easily the greatest builder of all the Israelite kings. Certainly Jerusalem is impressive, with its beautiful temple and palace and its strong fortifications. But Solomon doesn’t stop with his capital. Millennia later the remnants of his work at Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer will remain. These cities are of strategic importance to Israel because they are on the borders of the nation near waterways or trade routes. At these sites, Solomon uses many top-of-the-line defenses, specifically the six-chambered gate in the city walls that adds greater security, but he does not neglect daily function. Within the chambers of those gates, the elders hold court and tradesmen sell their merchandise. By dedicating some of his wealth to the development of these cities, Solomon guarantees himself a secure nation because he is equipped against invasion and he is satisfying the daily needs of his people.

16 Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, had captured Gezer, set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who were dwelling there, and then given the entire city as a dowry for his daughter who married Solomon. 17 Solomon restored the border areas of Gezer, the lower part of Beth-horon, 18 Baalath and Tamar in Judah’s desert country, 19 all the cities he used for storage, as well as the cities he used for his chariots and horsemen. Solomon also built whatever he desired in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all lands he reigned over. 20 All the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who still remained in his territories even though they were not Israelites, 21 the Israelites sought to annihilate; but from those who remained, Solomon assembled his conscripted labor force. This is still done today. 22 Solomon did not turn the Israelites into slaves. The Israelites were soldiers, servants, princes, captains, charioteers, and cavalrymen. 23 All these men—550 in all—were the most important officials involved in Solomon’s work, controlling all the workers.

24 Pharaoh’s daughter traveled from the city of David to visit the house which Solomon had raised for her. Solomon then constructed the Millo.

The Millo is a massive stepped-stone structure that defends the city of David by raising it above the surrounding land and supporting the foundations of the outer buildings there.

25 Three times a year, Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar he constructed in honor of the Eternal One. He burned incense on this altar which stood before the Eternal. His work on the temple was finished.

26 King Solomon constructed a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is in the land of Edom near Eloth on the Red Sea. 27 Hiram commanded some of his most experienced sailors to be the crew of the fleet. These sailors were in the company of Solomon’s servants. 28 They traveled to Ophir. When they got there, they gathered 16 tons of gold and transported it back to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 9:5 2 Samuel 7:16
  2. 9:14 120 talents
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