1 Kings 9:10-23

New International Version

Solomon’s Other Activities^(A)

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace— ¹¹ King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold^(B) he wanted. ¹² But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. ¹³ “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul,^[a](C) a name they have to this day. ¹⁴ Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents^[b] of gold.^(D)

¹⁵ Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted^(E) to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces,^[c](F) the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor,^(G) Megiddo and Gezer.^{(H) 16} (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter,^(I) Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,^{(J) 18} Baalath,^(K) and Tadmor^[d] in the desert, within his land, ¹⁹ as well as all his store cities^(L) and the towns for his chariots^(M) and for his horses^[e]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

²⁰ There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites,^(N) Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(O) (these peoples were not Israelites). ²¹ Solomon conscripted the descendants^(P) of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate^[f](Q)—to serve as slave labor,^(R) as it is to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make slaves^(S) of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ²³ They were also the chief officials^(T) in charge of Solomon’s projects—550 officials supervising those who did the work.