1 Kings 9

1  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 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.

1 Kings 9

Chapter 9

The LORD’s Response to Solomon

1 So Solomon finished building the Temple of the LORD, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do.2 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had done before at Gibeon.

3 The LORD said to him,
“I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.4 “As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations,5 then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’6 “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods,7 then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations.8 And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads in amazement. They will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’9 “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the LORD has brought all these disasters on them.’”

Solomon’s Agreement with Hiram

10 It took Solomon twenty years to build the LORD’s Temple and his own royal palace. At the end of that time,11 he gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre. (Hiram had previously provided all the cedar and cypress timber and gold that Solomon had requested.)12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him, he was not at all pleased with them.13 “What kind of towns are these, my brother?” he asked. So Hiram called that area Cabul (which means “worthless”), as it is still known today.

14 Nevertheless, Hiram paidt Solomon 9,000 poundst of gold.

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,t 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 Tamart in the wilderness within his land.

19 He built towns as supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horsest 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.t So Solomon conscripted them for his labor force, and they serve in the labor force 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 Elatht in the land of Edom, along the shore of the Red Sea.t27 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 tonst of gold.