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 Kings 9:6 turn back
- 1 Kings 9:7 destroy
- 1 Kings 9:13 Lit. Good for Nothing
- 1 Kings 9:15 Lit. The Landfill
- 1 Kings 9:24 Lit. he; cf. 2 Chr. 8:11
- 1 Kings 9:26 Heb. Eloth
1 Kings 9
Easy-to-Read Version
God Comes to Solomon Again
9 So Solomon finished building the Lord’s Temple and his own palace. Solomon built everything that he wanted to build. 2 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon again, just as he did at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him,
“I heard your prayer and what you asked me to do. You built this Temple, and I have made it a holy place. So I will be honored there forever. I will watch over it and think of it always. 4 You must serve me with a pure and honest heart, just as your father David did. You must obey my laws and do everything that I commanded you. 5 If you do, I will make sure that your family will always rule Israel, just as I promised your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by one of his descendants.
6-7 “But if you or your children stop following me, and don’t obey the laws and commands that I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, I will force Israel to leave the land that I have given to them. Israel will be an example to other people. Other people will make jokes about Israel. I made the Temple holy. It is the place where people honor me. But I will tear it down. 8 This Temple will be destroyed. Everyone who sees it will be amazed. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this terrible thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will say, ‘This happened because they left the Lord their God. He brought their ancestors out of Egypt, but they decided to follow other gods. They worshiped and served those gods. That is why the Lord caused all these bad things to happen to them.’”
10 It took 20 years for King Solomon to build the Lord’s Temple and the king’s palace. 11 Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar, pine and gold that he wanted, so Solomon gave him 20 cities in Galilee. 12 So Hiram traveled from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him. But Hiram was not pleased when he saw them. 13 King Hiram said, “What are these towns that you have given me, my brother?” King Hiram named that land the Land of Cabul.[a] And that area is still called Cabul today. 14 Hiram had sent King Solomon about 9000 pounds[b] of gold to use in building the Temple.
15 King Solomon forced slaves to work for him to build the Temple and his palace. Then he used these slaves to build many other things. He built the Millo and the city wall around Jerusalem. Then he rebuilt the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 In the past the king of Egypt had fought against the city of Gezer and burned it. He killed the Canaanites who lived there. When Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, Pharaoh gave him that city as a wedding present. 17 Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the city of Lower Beth Horon. 18 He also built the cities of Baalath and Tamar in the Judean desert. 19 He also built cities where he could store grain, and he built places for his chariots and his horses. King Solomon also built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the places he ruled.
20 There were people left in the land who were not Israelites. There were Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 21 The Israelites had not been able to destroy them, but Solomon forced them to work for him as slaves. They are still slaves today. 22 Solomon did not force any Israelites to be his slaves. The Israelites were soldiers, government officials, officers, captains, and chariot commanders and drivers. 23 There were 550 supervisors over Solomon’s projects. They supervised the men 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 each year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he built for the Lord. King Solomon also burned incense before the Lord and supplied what was needed for the Temple.
26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. This town is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 King Hiram had some skilled sailors who knew the sea well. He sent them to serve in Solomon’s navy and work with Solomon’s men. 28 Solomon’s ships went to Ophir and brought back about 16 tons[c] of gold for him.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 9:13 Cabul This name is like the Hebrew word meaning “worthless.”
- 1 Kings 9:14 9000 pounds Literally, “120 talents” (4140 kg).
- 1 Kings 9:28 16 tons Literally, “420 talents” (14,490 kg).
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International