God’s Second Appearance to Solomon

9 And ait came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord band the king’s house, and call Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, das He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him: e“I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built fto put My name there forever, gand My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 Now if you hwalk before Me ias your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you jkeep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, kas I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 lBut if you or your sons at all 1turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 mthen I will 2cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated nfor My name I will cast out of My sight. oIsrael will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for pthis house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, q‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this rcalamity on them.’ ”

Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts

10 Now sit happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 11 t(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. 13 So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” uAnd he called them the land of 3Cabul, as they are to this day. 14 Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Solomon’s Additional Achievements

15 And this is the reason for vthe labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, 4the wMillo, the wall of Jerusalem, xHazor, yMegiddo, and zGezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, ahad killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower bBeth Horon, 18 cBaalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for dhis chariots and cities for his ecavalry, and whatever Solomon fdesired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 gAll the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel—21 that is, their descendants hwho were left in the land after them, iwhom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—jfrom these Solomon raised kforced labor, as it is to this day. 22 But of the children of Israel Solomon lmade no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

23 Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: mfive hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

24 But nPharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to oher house which 5Solomon had built for her. pThen he built the Millo.

25 qNow three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the temple.

26 rKing Solomon also built a fleet of ships at sEzion Geber, which is near 6Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 tThen Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to uOphir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon

10 Now when the aqueen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came bto test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great 1retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. 3 So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing 2so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, cand his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. 6 Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. 7 However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. 8 dHappy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 9 eBlessed be the Lord your God, who fdelighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, gto do justice and righteousness.”

10 Then she hgave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. 11 iAlso, the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought great quantities of 3almug wood and precious stones from Ophir. 12 jAnd the king made 4steps of the almug wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such kalmug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day.

13 Now King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Great Wealth

14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 15 besides that from the ltraveling merchants, from the income of traders, mfrom all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country.

16 And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made nthree hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the oHouse of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 pMoreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. 20 Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

21 qAll King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had rmerchant 5ships at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant sships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and 6monkeys. 23 So tKing Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

24 Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

26 uAnd Solomon vgathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he 7stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. 27 wThe king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.

28 xAlso Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price. 29 Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; yand 8thus, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

Solomon’s Heart Turns from the Lord

11 But aKing Solomon loved bmany foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—2 from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, c“You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, dthat his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his eheart was not 1loyal to the Lord his God, fas was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after gAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after hMilcom 2the abomination of the iAmmonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. 7 jThen Solomon built a 3high place for kChemosh the abomination of Moab, on lthe hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech …