Chronological

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,

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.

Solomon Completes His Construction^(A)

8 It took Solomon 20 years to build Yahweh’s house and his own house. ² He rebuilt the cities Huram gave him, and he had Israelites live in them.

³ Then Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and conquered it. ⁴ He rebuilt Tadmor in the desert and built all the storage cities in Hamath. ⁵ He rebuilt Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon into cities fortified with walls, double-door gates, and bars. ⁶ He also rebuilt Baalath and all the storage cities that he owned. He built all the cities for his chariots, all the cities for his war horses, and whatever else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or the entire territory that he governed.

⁷ The Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites had been left in the land because the Israelites had not been able to destroy them.^[a] They were not Israelites, ⁸ but they had descendants who were still in the land. Solomon drafted them for slave labor. (They are still slaves today.) ⁹ But Solomon didn’t make any of the Israelites slaves for his projects. Instead, they were the soldiers, officers, generals, and commanders of his chariot and cavalry units.

¹⁰ These were the officers in charge of King Solomon’s projects: 250 foremen for the people who did the work.

¹¹ Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David to a palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife will not live in the palace of King David of Israel because these places where Yahweh’s ark has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to Yahweh on Yahweh’s altar that he built in front of the entrance hall. ¹³ He sacrificed every day, on weekly worship days, on the New Moon Festivals, and on the three annual festivals (the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths) as Moses had commanded. ¹⁴ As Solomon’s father David had directed, he set up the divisions of priests for their service and the divisions of Levites for their appointed places. The Levites were to lead in praising the Lord and to serve beside the priests by doing whatever needed to be done each day. Solomon also set up divisions of doorkeepers at every gate because this is what David, the man of Elohim, had commanded. ¹⁵ No one neglected the king’s orders to the priests or the Levites in any matter, including the temple’s finances. ¹⁶ All of Solomon’s work was carried out from the day the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was laid until it was completed. Yahweh’s temple was now finished.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to the coast near Ezion Geber and Elath in Edom. ¹⁸ Huram sent his own servants and his experienced sailors with ships to Solomon. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, got 33,750 pounds of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.