TheLord’s Response
1When Solomon finished building the temple of theLORD,a the royal palace,and all that Solomon desired to do,b2theLORD appeared to Solomon a second time just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.c3TheLORD said to him:
I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before Me.I have consecrated this temple you have built,to put My name there forever;d My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.e
4As for you,if you walk before Me as your father David walked,with a heart of integrity and in what is right,doing everything I have commanded you,and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,f5I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever,as I promised your father David:You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.g
6If you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep My commands — My statutes that I have set before you — and if you go and serve other gods and worship them,h7I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them,i and I will rejectj the temple I have sanctified for My name.k Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.l8Though this temple is now exalted,m everyone who passes by will be appalled and will mock.n They will say:Why did theLORD do this to this land and this temple?o9Then they will say:Because they abandoned theLORD their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt.They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them.Because of this,theLORD brought all this ruin on them.p
King Hiram’s 20 Towns
10At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses,theLORD’s temple and the royal palaceq —11Hiram king of Tyrer having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and golds for his every wisht — King Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in the land of Galilee.12So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him,but he was not pleased with them.13So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me,my brother? ” So he called them the Land of Cabul,u as they are still called today.v14Now Hiram had sent the king 9,000 poundsw of gold.x
Solomon’s Forced Labor
15This is the account of the forced labory that King Solomon had imposed to build theLORD’s temple,his own palace,the supporting terraces,z the wall of Jerusalem,aa and Hazor,ab Megiddo,ac and Gezer.ad16Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer.He then burned it down,killed the Canaanites who lived in the city,and gave it as a dowry to his daughter,Solomon’s wife.ae17Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer,Lower Beth-horon,af18Baalath,ag Tamarah,ai in the Wilderness of Judah,19all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon,the chariot cities,aj the cavalry cities,ak and whatever Solomon desired to buildal in Jerusalem,Lebanon,or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
20As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites,Hittites,Perizzites,Hivites,and Jebusites,who were not Israelites —21their descendants who remained in the land after them,those whom the Israelites were unable to•completely destroyam — Solomon imposed forced labor on them;it is this way until today.an22But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery;ao they were soldiers,his servants,his commanders,his captains,and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.23These were the deputiesap who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work.aq
Solomon’s Other Activities
24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of Davidar to the house that Solomon had built for her;as he then built the terraces.at
25Three times a year Solomon offered•burnt offerings and•fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for theLORD, and he burned incense with them in theLORD’s presence.au So he completed the temple.av
26King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber,aw which is near Eloth on the shore of the•Red Sea in the land of Edom.27With the fleet,Hiram sent his servants,experienced seamen,along with Solomon’s servants.28They went to Ophirax and acquired gold there — 16 tonsay — and delivered it to Solomon.az
Footnotes:
a.9:1-9 2Ch 7:11-22
b.9:1 1Kg 7:1-2; 2Ch 7:11
c.9:2 1Kg 3:5; 11:9
d.9:3 1Kg 8:29
e.9:3 2Ch 6:40
f.9:4 1Kg 3:6,14; 11:4,6; 1Ch 28:9
g.9:5 2Sm 7:12,15-16; 1Kg 2:4
h.9:6 Dt 28:15; 1Kg 11:10; 1Ch 28:9
i.9:7 Lv 26:33; Dt 28:63
j.9:7 Litsend from My presence
k.9:7 Dt 12:5; 1Kg 8:20
l.9:7 Dt 28:37
m.9:8 Some ancient versions readtemple will become a ruin
n.9:8 Lithiss
o.9:8 Lv 26:32; Dt 29:24; Mt 23:38
p.9:9 Dt 29:25; 31:29
q.9:10 1Kg 6:38; 7:1; 2Ch 8:1
r.9:11 1Kg 5:1
s.9:11 Dt 17:17
t.9:11 1Kg 5:10
u.9:13 = Like Nothing
v.9:11-13 2Ch 8:2
w.9:14 Lit120 talents
x.9:14 Dt 17:17
y.9:15 1Kg 5:13-16
z.9:15 2Sm 5:9
aa.9:15 1Kg 3:1
ab.9:15 Jos 11:1
ac.9:15 Jos 17:11
ad.9:15 Jdg 1:29
ae.9:16 1Kg 3:1; 7:8
af.9:17 Jos 16:3; 2Ch 8:5
ag.9:18 Jos 19:44
ah.9:18 Alt Hb traditions, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg readTadmor; 2Ch 8:4
ai.9:18 Tamar was a city in southern Judah; Ezk 47:19; 48:28.
aj.9:19 1Kg 10:26
ak.9:19 1Kg 4:26
al.9:19 1Kg 9:1
am.9:20-21 Jdg 1:21-36; 3:1; 2Ch 8:7-8
an.9:21 Jdg 1:28,35; Ezr 2:55,58
ao.9:22 Lv 25:39
ap.9:23 1Kg 5:16
aq.9:22-23 2Ch 8:9-10
ar.9:24 2Sm 5:7
as.9:24 1Kg 7:8; 2Ch 8:11
at.9:24 1Kg 9:15; 11:27; 2Ch 32:5
au.9:25 Dt 16:16
av.9:25 2Ch 8:16
aw.9:26 Nm 33:48; 1Kg 22:48
ax.9:27-28 1Kg 10:11; 22:48-49
ay.9:28 Lit420 talents
az.9:28 1Kg 9:11,14
