1 Kings 9
Names of God Bible
The Lord Answers Solomon’s Prayer(A)
9 Solomon finished building Yahweh’s temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to build. 2 Then Yahweh appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. 3 Yahweh 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 Yahweh do these things to this land and this temple?’
9 They will answer themselves,
‘They abandoned Yahweh their Elohim,
who brought their ancestors out of Egypt.
They adopted other gods, worshiped, and served them.
That is why Yahweh brought this disaster on them.’”
Solomon Completes His Construction(B)
10 It took Solomon 20 years to build the two houses (Yahweh’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 Yahweh’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 Yahweh. He burnt them on the altar that was in Yahweh’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.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 9:15 The exact place referred to as “the Millo” is unknown.
- 1 Kings 9:20 “because the Israelites. . .” This clause from verse 21 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 20 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English.
1 Kings 9
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
9 When Solomon finished the building of the Lord’s house and the king’s house, and all he desired and was pleased to do,
2 The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 The Lord told him, I have heard your prayer and supplication which you have made before Me; I have hallowed this house which you have built, and I have put My Name [and My Presence] there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.
4 And if you will walk before Me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, keeping My statutes and My precepts,
5 Then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, There shall not fail you [to have] a man upon the throne of Israel.
6 But if you turn away from following Me, you 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 I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them, and this house I have hallowed for My Name (renown) I will cast from My sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.
8 This house shall become a heap of ruins; every passerby shall be astonished and shall hiss [with surprise] and say, 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 laid hold of other gods and have worshiped and served them; therefore the Lord has brought on them all this evil.
10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s house and the king’s house,
11 For which Hiram king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with as much cedar and cypress timber and gold as he desired, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 And Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.
13 He said, What are these cities worth which you have given me, my brother? So they are called the Cabul [unproductive] Land to this day.
14 And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
15 This is the account of the levy [of forced labor] which King Solomon raised to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer, burned it with fire, slew the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,
18 Baalath and Tamar (Tadmor) in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,
19 And all the store cities which Solomon had and cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build [a]for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites,
21 Their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon made a forced levy of slaves to this day.
22 But Solomon made no slaves of the Israelites; they were the soldiers, his officials, attendants, commanders, captains, chariot officers, and horsemen.
23 These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work, 550 who had charge of the people who did the work.
24 But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he built to the Lord, and he burned incense with them before the Lord. So he finished the house.
26 And King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in Edom.
27 And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
28 They came to Ophir and got 420 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 9:19 Once on the throne Solomon became a thoroughgoing despot. All political power was taken out of the hands of the tribal sheiks... and placed in the hands of officers who were simply puppets of Solomon. The resources of the nation were expended not on works of public utility but on the personal aggrandizement of the monarch. In the means he took to gratify his passions he showed himself to be little better than a savage (James Orr et al., eds., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). The division of the nation at Solomon’s death with all the weakness and misery that it caused [idolatry, ignoring God, captivity, exile, the loss of the ten tribes] through the coming centuries was the direct outgrowth of Solomon’s unholy self-indulgence (Amos R. Wells, Bible Miniatures). Because of his extensive building program and his extravagant expenditures in the maintenance of his luxurious court, he resorted to forced labor and heavy taxation. Bitter opposition to his rule thus engendered the division of the united kingdom after his death (The New Jewish Encyclopedia).
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
