9:1 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do,
9:2 the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
9:3 The LORD said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
9:4 “As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,
9:5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
9:6 “But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them,
9:7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
9:8 And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
9:9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them–that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.’”
9:10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings–the temple of the LORD and the royal palace–
9:11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted.
9:12 But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.
9:13 “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day.
9:14 Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
9:15 Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD’S temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.
9:16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
9:17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,
9:18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land,
9:19 as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses–whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.
9:20 All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites),
9:21 that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate–these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day.
9:22 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers.
9:23 They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects–550 officials supervising the men who did the work.
9:24 After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the supporting terraces.
9:25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.
9:26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.
9:27 And Hiram sent his men–sailors who knew the sea–to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men.
9:28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.
9:1 And when Solomon had finished building the house of Jehovah and the king s house and everything that Solomon desired to make,
9:2 Jehovah appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
9:3 And Jehovah said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication which you have made before Me; I have sanctified this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there continually.
9:4 And as for you, if you walk before Me, as David your father walked, with a perfect and upright heart by doing according to all that I have commanded you and keep My statutes and My ordinances,
9:5 Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, You will not lack a man on the throne of Israel.
9:6 But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes, which I have put before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
9:7 Then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land which I have given them, and the house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.
9:8 And this house will become heaps, and everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss and say, Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house?
9:9 And they will say, Because they forsook Jehovah their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods and worshipped them and served them; therefore Jehovah brought all this evil upon them.
9:10 And at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king s house,
9:11 Since Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar wood and with cypress wood and with gold, according to all that he desired, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
9:12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.
9:13 And he said, What are these cities which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul, as it is unto this day.
9:14 And Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
9:15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of Jehovah and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer.
9:16 (Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire and had slain the Canaanites who lived in the city and given it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of Solomon.)
9:17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer and lower Beth-Horon,
9:18 And Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,
9:19 And all the storage cities that Solomon had, even the cities for chariots, and the cities for horsemen and what Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.
9:20 All of the people that were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel,
9:21 Their children who were left after them in the land whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy utterly, Solomon levied as forced labor, as they are unto this day.
9:22 But Solomon did not make slaves of the children of Israel; for they were the men of war and his servants and his officers and his captains and the officers over his chariots and his horsemen.
9:23 These were the chief of the officers over Solomon s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work.
9:24 As soon as Pharaoh s daughter came up from the city of David into her house which Solomon had built for her, he built the Millo.
9:25 And three times a year Solomon offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built to Jehovah, and he burned incense with them on the altar which was before Jehovah. Thus he finished the house.
9:26 King Solomon also built ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
9:27 And Hiram sent his servants in the ships, sailors who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
9:28 And they went to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there and brought it to King Solomon.