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 building the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the work of Solomon, whatever he wished to perform,

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 a second time, as he appeared in Gabaon.

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 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.

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 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:

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 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.

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 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:

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 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.

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 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?

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 [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.

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

[During] twenty years in which Solomon was building the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king,

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.

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.

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.

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,

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

What [are] these cities which you have given me, brother? And he called them Boundary until this day.

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

And Chiram brought to Solomon a hundred and twenty 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

And Chiram sent in the ship together with the servants of Solomon servants of his own, mariners to row, men acquainted with the sea.

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

And they came to Sophira, and took thence a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.