1 Kings 9

1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had made an end of building the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king, and everything that Solomon desired, which he was pleased to make,

After Solomon had finished the Lord's Temple and the royal palace, having accomplished everything he'd wanted to do,

2 then appeared Yahweh unto Solomon, a second time, —as he appeared unto him, in Gibeon.

the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 And Yahweh said unto him—I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, wherewith thou hast made supplication before me, I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my Name there unto times age-abiding, —and mine eyes and my heart shall be there, continually:

The Lord told him, “I have heard your prayer and your request to me. I have dedicated this Temple you have built by placing my name on it forever; I will always watch over it and take care of it.

4 As for thee, therefore, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, with a whole heart and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, —and, my statutes and my regulations, wilt keep,

As for you, if you follow my ways as your father David did, doing everything I've told you to do, and if you keep my laws and regulations,

5 then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel, unto times age-abiding, —as I promised unto David thy father, saying, There shall not be cut off to thee a man, from off the throne of Israel.

then I will make your throne secure forever. I made this agreement with your father David, telling him, ‘You will always have a descendant to rule over Israel.’

6 If ye, turn back, ye or your sons, from following me, and keep not my commandments, my statutes, which I have set before you, —but depart and serve other gods, and bow yourselves down to them,

But if you or your descendants turn away and do not keep the laws and the commandments I have given you, and if you go and serve and worship other gods,

7 then will I cut off Israel, from the face of the soil, which I have given unto them, and, the house which I have hallowed for my Name, will I suffer to be carried away from before me, —and Israel shall become a byword and a mockery, among all the peoples;

then I will cut Israel off from the land I have given them. I will banish from my presence this Temple I have dedicated to my honor, and I will make it an object lesson of ridicule among the nations.

8 and, this house which had been renowned, shall be desolate, every one that passeth by it, shall be astonished and shall whistle, —and men shall say—For what cause, hath Yahweh done, thus, unto this land, and unto this house?

This Temple will become a pile of rubble. All who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss, saying, ‘Why has the Lord acted in such a way to this land and this Temple?’

9 And men will answer—Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and bowed themselves down to them, and served them, for this cause, hath Yahweh brought in upon them all this ruin.

The answer will come, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their forefathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them. That's why the Lord has brought all this trouble upon them.’”

10 And it came to pass, at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, —the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king;

It took twenty years for Solomon to construct the two buildings—the Temple of the Lord and his own palace. After this,

11 Hiram king of Tyre having supplied Solomon with timber of cedar, and with timber of fir, and with gold, according to all his desire, that, then, King Solomon gave unto Hiram twenty cities, in the land of Galilee.

King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted.

12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to view the cities which, Solomon, had given him, —and they were not pleasing in his eyes.

But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, he was not happy with them.

13 So he said—What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them, Unfruitful Land, [as they are called] unto this day.

“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram. He called them the land of Cabul, the name they are known by to this day.

14 Now Hiram had sent to the king, —a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Even so, Hiram sent the king 120 talents of gold in payment.

15 Now, the following, is an account of the tax which King Solomon raised, for building the house of Yahweh and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, —and Hazor and Megiddo, and Gezer.

Here is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the Lord's Temple, his own palace, the terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 Pharaoh king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer, and burned it with fire, the Canaanites also who were dwelling in the city, had he slain, —and had given it as a dowry, to his daughter, wife of Solomon.

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites living in the town. He had then given it as a wedding dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

17 So then Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon, the nether,

Solomon rebuilt Gezer and lower Beth-horon,

18 and Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land;

Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

19 also all the store cities, which Solomon had, and the cities for chariots, and the cities for horsemen, —and the desire of Solomon that he was pleased to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land that he ruled over.

and all of Solomon's towns for storage, and the towns for his chariots and for his horsemen, plus whatever Solomon wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.

20 All the people that were left, of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were, not of the sons of Israel;

The descendants of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (people who were not Israelites)

21 their sons, who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able to devote to destruction, Solomon levied them for a toiling labour-band [which remaineth] unto this day.

who remained in the land—those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely—were conscripted by Solomon to work as forced laborers, as they continue to do to this day.

22 But, of the sons of Israel, Solomon devoted none to bond-service, —but, they, were men of war, and his servants, and his generals, and his heroes, and captains of his chariots, and his horsemen.

But Solomon did not enslave any of the Israelites. They were his soldiers, officials, commanders, captains, chariot commanders, and horsemen.

23 These, were the chiefs of the officers, who were over the work, for Solomon, five hundred and fifty, —who ruled over the people that wrought in the work.

They were also the chief officers in charge of Solomon's programs: 550 in command of the people who carried out the work.

24 Scarcely had Pharaoh’s daughter come up out of the city of David, into her own house, which he had built for her, when he built Millo.

Once Pharaoh's daughter had moved from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the city terraces.

25 And Solomon used to offer, three times a year, ascending-sacrifices and peace-offerings, upon the altar which he had built unto Yahweh, and to offer incense at the altar which was before Yahweh, —thus Solomon gave completeness unto the house.

Three times each year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord with them, and so fulfilled what was required at the Temple.

26 A fleet also, did King Solomon build in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

27 And Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, seamen, having knowledge of the sea, —with the servants of Solomon;

Hiram sent his sailors who knew the sea to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men.

28 and they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence, gold, four hundred and twenty talents, —and brought it to King Solomon.

They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold from there and delivered it to Solomon.