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 comes to pass, at Solomon’s finishing to build the house of YHWH, and the house of the king, and all the desire of Solomon that he delighted 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 YHWH appears to Solomon a second time, as He appeared to him in 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 YHWH says to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication with which you have made supplication before Me; I have hallowed this house that you have built to put My Name there for all time, and My eyes and My heart have been there [for] all the days.

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 you—if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, [and] you 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 have established the throne of your kingdom over Israel for all time, as I spoke to your father David, saying, A man of yours is never cut off from [being] 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,

If you at all turn back—you and your sons—from after Me, and do not keep My commands [and] My statutes that I have set before you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to 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 I have cut off Israel from the face of the ground that I have given to them, and the house that I have hallowed for My Name I send away from My presence, and Israel has been for an allegory and for a byword among all the peoples;

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?’

as for this house [that] is high, everyone passing by it is astonished, and has hissed, and they have said, Why has YHWH done this 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 have said, Because that they have forsaken their God YHWH, who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them and serve them; therefore YHWH has brought all this calamity on them.”

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

And it comes to pass, at the end of twenty years, that Solomon has built the two houses, the house of YHWH, 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.

Hiram king of Tyre has assisted Solomon with cedar-trees, and with fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire; then King Solomon gives to 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 comes out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon has given to him, and they have not been right in his eyes,

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

and he says, “What [are] these cities that you have given to me, my brother?” And one calls them the land of Cabul to this day.

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

And Hiram sends one hundred and twenty talents of gold to the king.

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 matter of the tribute that King Solomon has lifted up, to build the house of YHWH, 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.

(Pharaoh king of Egypt has gone up and captures Gezer, and burns it with fire, and he has slain the Canaanite who is dwelling in the city, and gives it [as] presents to his daughter, wife of Solomon).

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

And Solomon builds Gezer, and the lower Beth-Horon,

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

and Ba‘alath, 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 stores that King Solomon has, and the cities of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen, and the desire of Solomon that he 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.

The whole of the people that is left of the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, who [are] not of the sons 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 sons who are left behind them in the land, whom the sons of Israel have not been able to devote—he has even lifted up a tribute of service [on] them 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.

And Solomon has not appointed a servant out of the sons of Israel, for they [are] the men of war, and his servants, and his heads, and his captains, and the heads of his chariots, and his horsemen.

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

These [are] the five hundred and fifty heads of the officers who [are] over the work of Solomon, those ruling among the people who are laboring 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.

Only, the daughter of Pharaoh went up out of the City of David to her house that [Solomon] built for her; then he built 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 Solomon caused burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to ascend three times in a year on the altar that he built for YHWH, and he burned it as incense with that which [is] before YHWH, and 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 has made a navy in Ezion-Geber, that is beside Eloth, on the edge of the Sea of Suph, in the land of Edom.

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

And Hiram sends his servants in the navy, shipmen knowing the sea, with servants of Solomon,

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

and they come to Ophir, and take four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and bring [it] to King Solomon.