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1 Kings 9
New American Standard Bible

God’s Promise and Warning

9 (A)Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and (B)the king’s house, and (C)all [a]that Solomon desired to do, 2 that (D)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him, “(E)I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have offered before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, (F)by putting My name there forever, and (G)My eyes and My heart will be there [b]always. 4 As for you, (H)if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and honesty, acting in accordance with everything that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My ordinances, 5 then (I)I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I [c]promised to your father David, saying, ‘[d]You shall not be deprived of a man on the throne of Israel.’

6 “(J)But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have placed before you, but you go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 (K)then I will cut Israel off from the land which I have given them, and (L)the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will [e]expel from My sight. So (M)Israel will become a saying and an object of derision among all peoples. 8 And this house will become (N)a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and [f]hiss and say, ‘(O)Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this house?’ 9 And they will say, ‘(P)Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they [g]adopted other gods and worshiped and served them, for that reason the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.’”

Cities Given to Hiram

10 (Q)Now it came about (R)at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 11 (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and juniper timber and gold, [h]satisfying all his desire), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 So Hiram left Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they [i]did not please him. 13 And he said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So [j]they have been called the land of [k](S)Cabul to this day. 14 (T)And Hiram sent to the king [l]120 talents of gold.

15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon (U)conscripted to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the [m](V)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, (W)Hazor, (X)Megiddo, and (Y)Gezer. 16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and overthrown Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the (Z)Canaanites who lived in the city; and he had (AA)given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower (AB)Beth-horon, 18 and (AC)Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, that is, (AD)the cities for [n]his chariots and the cities for [o](AE)his horsemen, and [p](AF)everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land [q]under his rule. 20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, 21 (AG)their descendants who were left after them in the land, (AH)whom the sons of Israel were unable to completely eliminate, (AI)from them Solomon conscripted (AJ)forced laborers, as they are to this day. 22 But Solomon (AK)did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his commanders, his charioteers, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

23 These were the [r](AL)chief officers who were in charge of Solomon’s work, 550, (AM)who ruled over the people doing the work.

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

25 Now (AP)three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, burning incense with them on the altar which was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon also built a (AQ)fleet of ships in (AR)Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the [s]Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 (AS)And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to (AT)Ophir and received [t]420 talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:1 Lit Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do
  2. 1 Kings 9:3 Lit all the days
  3. 1 Kings 9:5 Lit spoke
  4. 1 Kings 9:5 Lit There shall not be cut off to you a man
  5. 1 Kings 9:7 Lit send
  6. 1 Kings 9:8 Or whistle
  7. 1 Kings 9:9 Lit laid hold of
  8. 1 Kings 9:11 Lit to all
  9. 1 Kings 9:12 Lit were not right in his sight
  10. 1 Kings 9:13 Lit he called them
  11. 1 Kings 9:13 I.e., like nothing
  12. 1 Kings 9:14 About 4.5 tons or 4 metric tons
  13. 1 Kings 9:15 I.e., terraced structure
  14. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the
  15. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the
  16. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem
  17. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit of
  18. 1 Kings 9:23 Or officers of the deputies
  19. 1 Kings 9:26 Lit Sea of Reeds
  20. 1 Kings 9:28 About 16 tons or 14 metric tons
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1 Kings 9
Living Bible

9 When Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and all the other buildings he had always wanted, 2-3 the Lord appeared to him the second time (the first time had been at Gibeon) and said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I have hallowed this Temple that you have built and have put my name here forever. I will constantly watch over it and rejoice in it. 4 And if you live in honesty and truth as your father David did, always obeying me, 5 then I will cause your descendants to be the kings of Israel forever, just as I promised your father David when I told him, ‘One of your sons shall always be upon the throne of Israel.’

6 “However, if you or your children turn away from me and worship other gods and do not obey my laws, 7 then I will take away the people of Israel from this land that I have given them. I will take them from this Temple which I have hallowed for my name, and I will cast them out of my sight; and Israel will become a joke to the nations and an example and proverb of sudden disaster. 8 This Temple will become a heap of ruins, and everyone passing by will be amazed and will whistle with astonishment, asking, ‘Why has the Lord done such things to this land and this Temple?’ 9 And the answer will be, ‘The people of Israel abandoned the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt; they worshiped other gods instead. That is why the Lord has brought this evil upon them.’”

10 At the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built the Temple and the palace, 11-12 he gave twenty cities in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre as payment for all the cedar and cypress lumber and gold he had furnished for the construction of the palace and Temple. Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities, but he wasn’t at all pleased with them.

13 “What sort of deal is this, my brother?” he asked. “These cities are a wasteland!” (And they are still known as “The Wasteland” today.) 14 For Hiram had sent gold to Solomon valued at $3,500,000!

15 Solomon had conscripted forced labor to build the Temple, his palace, Fort Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 Gezer was the city the king of Egypt conquered and burned, killing the Israeli population; later he had given the city to his daughter as a dowry—she was one of Solomon’s wives. 17-18 So now Solomon rebuilt Gezer along with Lower Beth-horon, Baalath, and Tamar, a desert city. 19 He also built cities for grain storage, cities in which to keep his chariots, cities for homes for his cavalry and chariot drivers, and resort cities near Jerusalem and in the Lebanon mountains and elsewhere throughout the land.

20-21 Solomon conscripted his labor forces from those who survived in the nations he conquered—the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. For the people of Israel had not been able to wipe them out completely at the time of the invasion and conquest of Israel, and they continue as slaves even today. 22 Solomon didn’t conscript any Israelis for this work, although they became soldiers, officials, army officers, chariot commanders, and cavalrymen. 23 And there were 550 men of Israel who were overseers of the labor forces.

Miscellaneous Notes:

24 King Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David—the old sector of Jerusalem—to the new quarters he had built for her in the palace. Then he built Fort Millo.

25 After the Temple was completed, Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings three times a year on the altar he had built. And he also burned incense upon it.

26 King Solomon had a shipyard in Ezion-geber near Eloth on the Red Sea in the land of Edom, where he built a fleet of ships.

27-28 King Hiram supplied experienced sailors to accompany Solomon’s crews. They used to sail back and forth from Ophir, bringing gold to King Solomon, the total value of which was several million dollars each trip.

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