1 Kings 9-10

Amplified Bible

God’s Promise and Warning

9 Now it happened when Solomon had finished building the house (temple) of the Lord and the king’s house (palace), and all else which he was pleased to do, ² that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, just as He had appeared to him ^[a]at Gibeon. ³ The Lord told him, “I have heard your prayer and supplication which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My Name and My Presence there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually. ⁴ As for you, if you walk (live your life) before Me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, acting in accordance with everything that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My precepts, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You shall not be without a man (descendant) on the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “But if you or your sons turn away 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 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and I will cast out of My sight the house which I have consecrated for My Name and Presence. Then Israel will become a proverb (a saying) and a byword (object of ridicule) among all the peoples. ⁸ This house (temple) will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be appalled and ^[b]sneer and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ And they [who know] will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they have chosen other gods and have worshiped and served them; that is the reason the Lord has brought on them all this adversity.’”

Cities Given to Hiram

¹⁰ Now at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the temple of the Lord and the palace of the king ¹¹ (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress timber [from Lebanon] and gold as he desired), at that time King Solomon gave Hiram ^[c]twenty cities in the land of Galilee (northern Israel). ¹² So Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they ^[d]did not please him. ¹³ He said, “What are these cities [good for] which you have given me, my brother?” So they have been called the land of Cabul (like nothing, unproductive) to this day. ¹⁴ And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.

¹⁵ Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the ^[e]Millo (fortification), the wall of Jerusalem, [and the fortress cities of] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer, burned it with fire and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and he had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt [and fortified] Gezer and Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath and ^[f]Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, ¹⁹ and all the storage cities [for surplus provisions] which Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and whatever it pleased Solomon to build ^[g]in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule. ²⁰ As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the sons (descendants) of Israel, ²¹ their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to completely destroy, from them Solomon levied (conscripted) forced laborers, even to this day (the date of this writing). ²² But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war (soldiers), his servants, his officers, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work.

²⁴ As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, then he built the Millo (fortification).

²⁵ Three times a year [during the ^[h]major annual festivals] Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built to the Lord, and he burned incense with them before the Lord. So he finished the house [of the Lord].

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds), in the land of Edom. ²⁷ And Hiram [king of Tyre] sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They came to ^[i]Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba

10 Now when the queen of ^[j]Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with riddles. ² So she came to Jerusalem with a very large caravan (entourage), with camels carrying spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her mind [to discover the extent of his wisdom]. ³ Solomon ^[k]answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house (palace) which he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his servants (court officials), the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, his ^[l]stairway by which he went up to the house (temple) of the Lord, she was breathless and awed [by the wonder of it all]. ⁶ Then she told the king, “The report which I heard in my own land about your words and wisdom is true! ⁷ I did not believe the report until I came and saw it with my own eyes. Behold, the half of it was not told to me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. ⁸ How blessed (fortunate, happy) are your men! How blessed are these your servants who stand continually before you, hearing your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, He made you king to execute justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰ She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again did such an abundance of spices come in [to Israel] as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹¹ Also the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood (sandalwood) and precious stones. ¹² From the almug wood (sandalwood) the king made pillars for the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and also lyres and harps for the singers. Such almug wood did not come in [to Israel] again, nor has it been seen to this day.

¹³ King Solomon [in turn] gave to the queen of Sheba everything that she wanted, whatever she asked, besides what he gave to her ^[m]from his royal bounty. So she returned to her own country, she and her servants.

Wealth, Splendor and Wisdom

¹⁴ Now the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one [particular] year was six hundred and sixty-six ^[n]talents of gold, ¹⁵ besides the taxes from the traders and from the wares of the merchants, and [the tribute money] from all the kings of the Arabs (Bedouins) and the governors of the country. ¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten (hammered) gold; ^[o]six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷ He made three hundred smaller shields of beaten gold; ^[p]three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon [the king’s armory]. ¹⁸ Also the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and a round ^[q]top was attached to the throne from the back. On either side of the seat were armrests, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood there, one on either end of each of the six steps; there was nothing like it made for any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had at sea the [large cargo] ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

²³ So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. ²⁴ All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his mind. ²⁵ Every man brought a gift [of tribute]: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁶ Now Solomon collected chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as the ^[r]sycamore trees that are in the lowland. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from ^[s]Kue, and the king’s merchants acquired them from Kue, for a price.^{(A) 29} A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and in the same way they exported them, by the king’s merchants, to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram (Syria).