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.

Solomon's Accomplishments

8 ^(A)At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ² Solomon rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them.

³ And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and took it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities that he built in Hamath. ⁵ He also built ^(B)Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, ^(C)fortified cities ^(D)with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶ and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ^7 (E)All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸ from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed—these Solomon drafted ^(F)as forced labor, and so they are to this day. ⁹ But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁰ And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250, who exercised authority over the people.

^11 (G)Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord ^(H)that he had built before the vestibule, ^13 (I)as the duty of each day required, offering ^(J)according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the ^(K)three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. ¹⁴ According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed ^(L)the divisions of the priests for their service, ^(M)and the Levites for their offices of praise and ^(N)ministry before the priests ^(O)as the duty of each day required, and ^(P)the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David ^(Q)the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶ Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from^[a] the day the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(R)Ezion-geber and ^(S)Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and brought from there ^(T)450 talents^[b] of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

Come, Bless the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

He Heals the Brokenhearted

Praise the Name of the Lord

Sing to the Lord a New Song

Let Everything Praise the Lord

Encouragement to Give Generously

8 We want you to know, brothers,^[a] about the grace of God that has been ^(A)given among the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and ^(B)their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For they gave ^(C)according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly ^(D)for the favor^[b] of taking part in ^(E)the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they ^(F)gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. ⁶ Accordingly, ^(G)we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you ^(H)this act of grace. ⁷ But as ^(I)you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you^[c]—^(J)see that you excel in this act of grace also.

^8 (K)I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(L)though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter ^(M)I give my judgment: ^(N)this benefits you, who ^(O)a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable ^(P)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness ¹⁴ your abundance at the present time should supply ^(Q)their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵ As it is written, ^(R)“Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

Commendation of Titus

¹⁶ But ^(S)thanks be to God, ^(T)who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. ¹⁷ For ^(U)he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going^[d] to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ With him we are sending^{[e] (V)}the brother who is famous among ^(W)all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. ¹⁹ And not only that, but he has been ^(X)appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of ^(Y)grace that is being ministered by us, ^(Z)for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. ²⁰ We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, ²¹ for ^(AA)we aim at what is honorable ^(AB)not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man. ²² And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for Titus, he is ^(AC)my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers^[f] of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴ So give proof before the churches of your love and of ^(AD)our boasting about you to these men.