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1 Kings 9:15-28
New English Translation

15 Here are the details concerning the work crews[a] King Solomon conscripted[b] to build the Lord’s temple, his palace, the terrace, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of[c] 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,[d] 19 all the storage cities that belonged to him,[e] and the cities where chariots and horses were kept.[f] He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.[g] 20 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.[h] 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.[i] 22 Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews;[j] the Israelites served as his soldiers, attendants, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.[k] 23 These men were also in charge of Solomon’s work projects; there were a total of 550 men who supervised the workers.[l] 24 Solomon built the terrace as soon as Pharaoh’s daughter moved up from the City of David[m] to the palace Solomon built for her.[n]

25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings[o] 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.[p]

26 King Solomon also built ships[q] 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.[r] 28 They sailed[s] to Ophir, took from there 420 talents[t] of gold, and then brought them to King Solomon.

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Footnotes

  1. 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.
  2. 1 Kings 9:15 tn Heb “raised up.”
  3. 1 Kings 9:15 tn The words “the cities of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  4. 1 Kings 9:18 tn The Hebrew text has “in the wilderness, in the land.”
  5. 1 Kings 9:19 tn Heb “to Solomon.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  6. 1 Kings 9:19 tn Heb “the cities of the chariots and the cities of the horses.”
  7. 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.”
  8. 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.”
  9. 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.”
  10. 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.
  11. 1 Kings 9:22 tn Heb “officers of his chariots and his horses.”
  12. 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.”
  13. 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.
  14. 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.”
  15. 1 Kings 9:25 tn Or “tokens of peace”; NIV, TEV “fellowship offerings.”
  16. 1 Kings 9:25 tn Heb “and he made complete the house.”
  17. 1 Kings 9:26 tn Or “a fleet” (in which case “ships” would be implied).
  18. 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.”
  19. 1 Kings 9:28 tn Heb “went.”
  20. 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 9:15-28
New Living Translation

Solomon’s Many Achievements

15 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, the supporting terraces,[a] the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, killing the Canaanite population and burning it down. He gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Solomon. 17 So Solomon rebuilt the city of Gezer.) He also built up the towns of Lower Beth-horon, 18 Baalath, and Tamar[b] in the wilderness within his land. 19 He built towns as supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses[c] could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm.

20 There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 21 These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not completely destroyed.[d] So Solomon conscripted them as slaves, and they serve as forced laborers to this day. 22 But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for forced labor. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, government officials, officers and captains in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. 23 Solomon appointed 550 of them to supervise the people working on his various projects.

24 Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. Then he constructed the supporting terraces.

25 Three times each year Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished the work of building the Temple.

26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, a port near Elath[e] in the land of Edom, along the shore of the Red Sea.[f] 27 Hiram sent experienced crews of sailors to sail the ships with Solomon’s men. 28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back to Solomon some sixteen tons[g] of gold.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:15 Hebrew the millo; also in 9:24. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  2. 9:18 An alternate reading in the Masoretic Text reads Tadmor.
  3. 9:19 Or and charioteers.
  4. 9:21 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
  5. 9:26a As in Greek version (see also 2 Kgs 14:22; 16:6); Hebrew reads Eloth, a variant spelling of Elath.
  6. 9:26b Hebrew sea of reeds.
  7. 9:28 Hebrew 420 talents [14 metric tons].
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New Living Translation (NLT)

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