1 Kings 9-10

Complete Jewish Bible

9 After Shlomo had finished building the house of Adonai, the royal palace and everything else he wanted to build for himself, ² Adonai appeared to Shlomo a second time, as he had appeared to him in Giv‘on. ³ Adonai said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me: I am consecrating this house which you built and placing my name there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there. ⁴ As for you, if you will live in my presence, as did David your father, in pureness of heart and uprightness, doing everything I have ordered you to do, and observing my laws and rulings; ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your rulership over Isra’el forever, just as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You will never lack a man on the throne of Isra’el.’ ⁶ But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and do not observe my mitzvot and regulations which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, worshipping them; ⁷ then I will cut off Isra’el from the land I have given them. This house, which I consecrated for my name, I will eject from my sight; and Isra’el will become an example to avoid and an object of scorn among all peoples. ⁸ This house, now so exalted — everyone passing by will gasp in shock at the sight of it and will ask, ‘Why has Adonai done this to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ But the answer will be, ‘It’s because they abandoned Adonai their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods, worshipping and serving them; this is why Adonai brought all these calamities on them.’”

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, during which time Shlomo had built the two buildings, the house of Adonai and the royal palace, ¹¹ King Shlomo gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of the Galil (recall that Hiram the king of Tzor had supplied Shlomo with cedar and cypress logs and with all the gold Shlomo wanted). ¹² Hiram came over from Tzor to see the cities Shlomo had given him, but he was not satisfied with them. ¹³ He said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” So they have been called the land of Kabul [good for nothing] till this day. ¹⁴ (Hiram had sent the king four tons of gold.)

¹⁵ Following is the account of the forced labor levied by King Shlomo for building the house of Adonai, his own palace, the Millo, the wall of Yerushalayim, and the cities of Hatzor, Megiddo and Gezer. ¹⁶ Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it to the ground and killed the Kena‘ani living in the city; then he had given it as a dowry for his daughter, Shlomo’s wife. ¹⁷ So Shlomo rebuilt Gezer; he also built Lower Beit-Horon, ¹⁸ Ba‘alat, Tadmor in the desert, in the land, ¹⁹ as well as all the cities that Shlomo had for storing supplies, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and the other buildings Shlomo wanted to build for himself in Yerushalayim, in the L’vanon and throughout the land he ruled. ²⁰ All the people still left from the Emori, Hitti, P’rizi, Hivi, and Y’vusi, who were not part of the people of Isra’el, ²¹ that is, their descendants remaining after them in the land, whom the people of Isra’el were not able to destroy completely — from them Shlomo levied his forced laborers; as it is to this day. ²² But Shlomo did not raise any of his forced labor from the people of Isra’el; rather, they were the soldiers, his servants, administrators and commanders, and the officials in charge of his chariots and horsemen. ²³ There were 550 chief officers over Shlomo’s work, in charge of the workers.

²⁴ Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house, which Shlomo had built for her. After that he built the Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Shlomo offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for Adonai, offering incense with them on the altar before Adonai. So he finished the house.

²⁶ King Shlomo built a fleet of ships in ‘Etzyon-Gever, by Elot on the shore of the Sea of Suf in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent some of his own servants, experienced sailors who understood the sea, to serve with Shlomo’s servants. ²⁸ They went to Ofir and took from there gold, fourteen tons of it, which they brought back to King Shlomo.

10 When the queen of Sh’va heard what was being said about Shlomo because of the name of Adonai, she came to test him with difficult questions. ² She arrived in Yerushalayim accompanied by a very great retinue, including camels bearing spices and gold in great abundance, and precious stones. When she appeared before Shlomo she spoke with him about everything on her heart, ³ and Shlomo answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴ After the queen of Sh’va had seen all Shlomo’s wisdom, the palace he had built, ⁵ the food at his table, the manner of seating his officials, the manner in which his staff served him, how they were dressed, his personal servants and his burnt offering which he offered in the house of Adonai, it left her breathless. ⁶ She said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about your deeds and your wisdom is true, ⁷ but I couldn’t believe the report until I came and saw for myself. Actually, they didn’t tell me even the half of it — your wisdom and prosperity surpass the reports I heard. ⁸ How happy your people must be, how happy these servants of yours who are always here attending you and get to hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be Adonai your God, who took pleasure in you to put you on the throne of Isra’el. Because of Adonai’s eternal love for Isra’el, he has made you king, to administer judgment and justice fairly.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king four tons of gold, a huge amount of spices, and precious stones; never again did there arrive such an abundance of spices as those the queen of Sh’va gave to King Shlomo.

¹¹ Hiram’s fleet which had brought gold from Ofir now brought in from Ofir a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones. ¹² The king used the sandalwood to make columns for the house of Adonai and for the royal palace, and also lyres and lutes for the singers. No sandalwood like it has come or been seen to this day.

¹³ King Shlomo gave the queen of Sh’va everything she wanted, whatever she asked, in addition to the presents he gave her on his own initiative. After this, she returned and went back to her own country, she and her servants.

¹⁴ The weight of the gold Shlomo received annually came to twenty-two tons of gold, ¹⁵ besides that which came from sales taxes, customs duties and assessments collected by all the kings of the mixed peoples and by the district governors. ¹⁶ King Shlomo made 200 large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of gold went into one shield. ¹⁷ He made 300 more shields of hammered gold, with three-and-three-quarters pounds going into one shield; the king put these in the House of the L’vanon Forest.

¹⁸ The king also made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, a back with a rounded top, arms on either side of the seat, two lions standing beside the arms, ²⁰ and twelve more lions standing on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made in any kingdom.

²¹ All King Shlomo’s drinking vessels were of gold; and all the utensils in the House of the L’vanon Forest were of pure gold; none was of silver, for in Shlomo’s time it was regarded as having little value. ²² The king had a fleet of large “Tarshish” ships along with Hiram’s fleet; once every three years the “Tarshish” fleet came in, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

²³ So King Shlomo surpassed all the kings on earth in both wealth and wisdom. ²⁴ All the earth sought to have an audience with Shlomo, in order to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Each one brought his present — articles of silver, articles of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses and mules; and this continued year after year.

²⁶ Shlomo amassed chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen; he assigned them to the chariot cities and to the king in Yerushalayim. ²⁷ The king made silver in Yerushalayim as common as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as sycamore-fig trees are in the Sh’felah. ²⁸ Shlomo’s horses had been brought from Egypt and from Keveh, with the king’s agents having bought them from the dealers in Keveh at the going price. ²⁹ A chariot from Egypt cost fifteen pounds of silver shekels and a horse three-and-three quarters pounds [of shekels]; all the kings of the Hittim and the kings of Aram purchased them at these prices through Shlomo’s agents.