aNow it happened when Solomon had completed building the house of Yahweh, and bthe king’s house, and call 1that Solomon desired to do,Lit Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do2 Chr 7:111 Kin 7:1, 22 Chr 8:6 2 that aYahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.1 Kin 3:5; 11:9; 2 Chr 1:7 3 And Yahweh said to him, “aI have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have set apart as holy this house which you have built bby putting My name there forever, and cMy eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.2 Kin 20:5; Ps 10:17; 34:171 Kin 8:29Deut 11:12; 2 Chr 6:40 4 As for you, aif you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My judgments,1 Kin 3:6, 14; 11:4, 6, 8; 2 Kin 20:3; Ps 128:1 5 then aI will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I 1promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not have a man cut off from the throne of Israel.’Lit spoke2 Sam 7:12, 16; 1 Kin 2:4; 6:12; 1 Chr 22:10
6 “aBut if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have given before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,2 Sam 7:14-16; 1 Chr 28:9; Ps 89:30ff 7 athen I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and bthe house which I have set apart as holy for My name, I will 1cast out of My presence. So cIsrael will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.Lit sendLev 18:24-29; Deut 4:26; 2 Kin 17:23Jer 7:4-14Deut 28:37; Ps 44:14; Jer 24:9 8 And this house will become 1aa heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will feel desolate and hiss and say, ‘bWhy has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’Heb high2 Kin 25:9; 2 Chr 36:19Deut 29:24-26; 2 Chr 7:21; Jer 22:8, 9, 28 9 And they will say, ‘aBecause they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore Yahweh has brought all this calamity on them.’”Deut 29:25-28; Jer 2:10-13
10 aNow it happened that bat the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king’s house2 Chr 8:11 Kin 6:37, 38; 7:1; 9:1 11 (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold according to all his desire), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 So Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they were not right in his eyes. 13 And he said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So 1they were called the land of 2aCabul to this day.Lit he called themLit as good as nothingJosh 19:27 14 aAnd Hiram sent to the king 1120 talents of gold.Approx. 4.5 tons or 4 metric tons, a talent was approx. 75 lb. or 34 kg1 Kin 9:11
15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon araised up to build the house of Yahweh, his own house, the 1bMillo, the wall of Jerusalem, cHazor, dMegiddo, and eGezer.Citadel1 Kin 5:132 Sam 5:9; 1 Kin 9:24Josh 11:1; 19:36Josh 17:11Judg 1:29 16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the aCanaanites who lived in the city, and had bgiven it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.Josh 16:101 Kin 3:1; 7:8 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower aBeth-horonJosh 10:10; 16:3; 21:22; 2 Chr 8:5 18 and aBaalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,Josh 19:44 19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, and athe cities for 1his chariots, and the cities for 2bhis horsemen, and 3call that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land 4under his rule.Lit theLit the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in JerusalemLit of1 Kin 10:26; 2 Chr 1:141 Kin 4:261 Kin 9:1 20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, 21 anamely, their sons who were left after them in the land bwhom the sons of Israel were unable to devote to destruction, from cthem Solomon raised up dforced laborers to this day.Judg 1:21-29; 3:1Josh 15:63; 17:12, 13Judg 1:28, 35Gen 9:25, 26; Ezra 2:55, 58 22 But Solomon adid not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.Lev 25:39
23 These were the 1achief deputies who were over Solomon’s work, 550, bwho had dominion over the people doing the work.Or officers of the deputies2 Chr 8:101 Kin 5:16
24 As soon as aPharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, bthen he built the Millo.1 Kin 3:1; 7:82 Sam 5:9; 1 Kin 9:15; 11:27; 2 Chr 32:5
25 And athree times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh, burning incense with them on the altar which was before Yahweh. So he finished the house.Ex 23:14-17; Deut 16:16
26 King Solomon also made a afleet of ships in bEzion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the 1Red Sea, in the land of Edom.Lit Sea of Reeds1 Kin 22:48Num 33:35; Deut 2:8; 1 Kin 22:48 27 aAnd Hiram sent his servants with the fleet of ships, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.1 Kin 5:6, 9; 10:11 28 And they went to aOphir and took from there 420 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.1 Chr 29:4; 2 Chr 8:18