Kings III 9
1 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the work of Solomon, whatever he wished to perform,
Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do,
2 that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he appeared in Gabaon.
the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the Lord said to him, I have heard the voice of your prayer, and your supplication which you made before me: I have done for you according to all your prayer: I have hallowed this house which you have built to put my name there for ever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there always.
And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.
4 And if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in holiness of heart and uprightness, and so as to do according to all that I commanded him, and shall keep my ordinances and my commandments:
And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,
5 then will I establish the throne of your kingdom in Israel for ever, as I spoke to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to rule in Israel.
then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
6 But if you or your children do in any wise revolt from me, and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances, which Moses set before you, and you go and serve other gods, and worship them:
But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,
7 then will I cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and this house which I have consecrated to my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a desolation and a byword to all nations.
then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.
8 And this house, which is high, shall be [so that] every one that passes by it shall be amazed, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Therefore has the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?
And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
9 And [men] shall say, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought out their fathers from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and they attached themselves to strange gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore the Lord has brought this evil upon them. Then Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharao out of the city of David into his house which he built for himself in those days.
And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’”
10 [During] twenty years in which Solomon was building the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king,
Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace,
11 Chiram king of Tyre helped Solomon with cedar wood, and fir wood, and with gold, and all that he wished for: then the king gave Chiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire.
12 So Chiram departed from Tyre, and went into Galilee to see the cities which Solomon gave to him; and they pleased him not. And he said,
So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.
13 What [are] these cities which you have given me, brother? And he called them Boundary until this day.
“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.
14 And Chiram brought to Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold,
And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold.
This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,
Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,
as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses —whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.
As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)—
their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction —Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.
But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry.
They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.
As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.
Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.
26 even that for which king Solomon built a ship in Gasion Gaber near Aelath on the shore of the extremity of the sea in the land of Edom.
King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.
27 And Chiram sent in the ship together with the servants of Solomon servants of his own, mariners to row, men acquainted with the sea.
And Hiram sent his servants, men who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants.
28 And they came to Sophira, and took thence a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.
They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents —and delivered it to Solomon.
