1 Kings 9

1 After Solomon’s [workers] had finished building the temple and his palace and everything else that Solomon wanted them to build,

And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,

2 Yahweh appeared to him [in a dream] a second time, like he had appeared to him at [the city of] Gibeon.

That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 Yahweh said to him, “I heard what you prayed and what you pleaded for me to do. I have set apart/dedicated this temple which your [workers] have built to be the place where people will worship me forever. I will always watch over it and protect it.

And the LORD said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there for ever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

4 “And as for you, if you conduct your life as I want you to, like your father David did, and if you very sincerely obey all the statutes and laws that I have commanded you to obey,

And if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my judgments:

5 I will do what I promised your father that I would do: I promised him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants.

Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom on Israel for ever, as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.

6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and disobey the commands and decrees that I have given to you, and if you start to worship other gods,

But if you shall at all turn from following me, you or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

7 I will remove my Israeli people from the land that I have given to them. I will also abandon this temple that I have set apart/dedicated to be the place where people should worship me. Then people everywhere will despise [the people of] Israel and make fun of them.

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

8 This temple will become a heap of ruins. Everyone who passes by will be astonished [when they see it], and they will be shocked and say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land and to this temple?’

And at this house, which is high, every one that passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why has the LORD done thus to this land, and to this house?

9 And other people will reply, ‘It happened because the Israeli people abandoned Yahweh their God, the one who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They started to accept and worship other gods. And that is why Yahweh has caused them to experience all these disasters.’”

And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold on other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore has the LORD brought on them all this evil.

10 Solomon’s [workers] labored for 20 years to build the temple and the palace.

And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house,

11 Hiram, the king of Tyre had [arranged for his workers to] give Solomon all the cedar and pine [logs] and all the gold that he needed [for this work]. After it was all finished, King Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the Galilee region.

(Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire, ) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

12 But when Hiram went from Tyre [to Galilee] to see the cities that Solomon had given to him, he was not pleased with them.

And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.

13 He said to Solomon, “My friend, those cities that you gave me are worthless!” So, that area is still called ‘Worthless’.

And he said, What cities are these which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day.

14 Hiram paid Solomon only five tons of gold [for those cities].

And Hiram sent to the king six score talents of gold.

15 This is a record of the work that King Solomon forced men to do. He forced them to build the temple and his palace and the terraces/landfills [on the east side of the city], and the wall around Jerusalem, and [to rebuild the cities of] Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer.

And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 [The reason they needed to rebuild Gezer was that the army of] the king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it. Then they had burned [the houses in] the city and killed all the people of the Canaan people-group who lived there. The king of Egypt gave that city to his daughter as a gift when she married Solomon.

For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelled in the city, and given it for a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

17 So Solomon’s workers also rebuilt Gezer, and they also rebuilt Lower Beth-Horon [city].

And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether,

18 They also rebuilt Baalath and Tamar [towns] in the desert in [the southern part of] Judah.

And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

19 They also built cities where they kept the supplies for Solomon, the places where his horses and chariots were kept. They also built everything else that Solomon wanted them to build, in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and in other places in the area over which he ruled.

And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 There were many people who belonged to the Amor people-group, the Heth people-group, the Periz people-group, the Hiv people-group, and the Jebus people-group who were not killed when the Israelis captured their land.

And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,

21 [Their descendants still lived in Israel]. It was those people whom Solomon forced to become his slaves [to build all those places], and they are still slaves.

Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, on those did Solomon levy a tribute of slavery to this day.

22 But Solomon did not force any Israeli people to become slaves. Some Israelis became soldiers and army officers and commanders and drivers of his chariots and soldiers who rode on horses.

But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no slaves: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.

23 There were 550 officials who supervised the slaves who worked [to build all those places].

These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, which bore rule over the people that worked in the work.

24 After [Solomon’s wife, who was] the daughter of the king of Egypt, moved from [the place outside Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’ to the palace that Solomon’s workers built for her, Solomon [told his workers to] fill in the slopes on the east side of the city.

But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.

25 Three times each year Solomon [brought to the temple] offerings that were completely burned [on the altar] and offerings to restore fellowship with Yahweh. He also brought incense to be burned in the presence of Yahweh. And so his men finished building the temple.

And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD, and he burnt incense on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon’s [workers] also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber [city], which is near Elath [city], on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land belonging to the Edom people-group.

And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

27 [King] Hiram sent some very expert sailors to work on the ships with Solomon’s workers.

And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

28 They sailed to [the] Ophir [region] and brought back to Solomon about 16 tons of gold.

And they came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.