1 Kings 9 | King James Version

King James Version

1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king' house, and all Solomon' desire which he was pleased to do, 2 That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3 And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye 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 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 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9 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 upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil. 10 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' house, 11 ( 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 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. 13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. 14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold. 15 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 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon' wife. 17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether, 18 And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 19 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 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 children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day. 22 But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. 23 These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon' work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work. 24 But Pharaoh' daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo. 25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house. 26 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 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

New International Reader’s Version

The Lordappears to Solomon

1 Solomon finished building the LORD’s temple and the royal palace. He had accomplished everything he had planned to do. 2 The LORD appeared to him a second time. He had already appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him, ‘I have heard you pray to me. I have heard you ask me to help you. You have built this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 ‘But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Your heart must be honest. It must be without blame. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws. 5 Then I will set up your royal throne over Israel for ever. I promised your father David I would do that. I said to him, “You will always have a son from your family line on the throne of Israel.” 6 ‘But suppose all of you turn away from me. Or your children turn away from me. You refuse to obey the commands and rules I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them. 7 Then I will remove Israel from the land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. Then Israel will be hated by all the nations. They will laugh and joke about Israel. 8 This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will make fun of it. And they will say, “Why has the LORD done a thing like this to this land and temple?” 9 People will answer, “Because they have deserted the LORD their God. He brought out of Egypt their people of long ago. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshipping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the LORD has brought all this horrible trouble on them.” ’

Other things Solomon did

10 Solomon built the LORD’s temple and the royal palace. It took him 20 years to construct those two buildings. 11 King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram, the king of Tyre. That’s because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted. He had also provided Solomon with all the gold he wanted. 12 Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. But he wasn’t pleased with them. 13 ‘My friend’, he asked, ‘what have you given me? What kind of towns are these?’ So he called them the Land of Kabul. And that’s what they are still called to this day. 14 Hiram had sent 4.5 tonnes of gold to Solomon. 15 King Solomon forced people to work hard for him. Here is a record of what they did. They built the LORD’s temple and Solomon’s palace. They filled in the low places. They rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. They built up Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked Gezer and captured it. He had set it on fire. He had killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he had given Gezer as a wedding gift to his daughter. She was Solomon’s wife. 17 Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He built up Lower Beth Horon 18 and Baalath. He built up Tadmor in the desert. All those towns were in his land. 19 He built up all the cities where he could store things. He also built up the towns for his chariots and horses. He built anything he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon and all the territory he ruled over. 20 There were still many people left in the land who weren’t Israelites. They included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 21 They were children of the people who had lived in the land before the Israelites came. Those people had been set apart to the LORD in a special way to be destroyed. But the Israelites hadn’t been able to kill all of them. Solomon forced them to work very hard as his slaves. And they still work for Israel as slaves to this day. 22 But Solomon didn’t force any of the Israelites to work as his slaves. Instead, some were his fighting men. Others were his government officials, his officers and his captains. Others were commanders of his chariots and chariot drivers. 23 Still others were the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects. There were 550 officials in charge of those who did the work. 24 Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David up to the palace Solomon had built for her. After that, he filled in the low places near the palace. 25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. He sacrificed them on the altar he had built to honour the LORD. Along with the offerings, he burned incense to the LORD. So he carried out his duties for the temple. 26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. It’s near Elath in Edom. It’s on the shore of the Red Sea. 27 Hiram sent his men to serve on the ships together with Solomon’s men. Hiram’s sailors knew the sea. 28 All of them sailed to Ophir. They brought back 15 tonnes of gold. They gave it to King Solomon.