1 Kings 9–10

THE LORD’S RESPONSE

9When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord,^u the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,^{v 2}the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.^{w 3}The Lord said to him:

I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put^A my name there forever;^x my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.^y

⁴As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and in what is right, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances,^{z 5}I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.^aa

⁶If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands—my statutes that I have set before you—and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,^{ab 7}I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them,^ac and I will reject^B the temple I have sanctified for my name.^ad Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.^{ae 8}Though this temple is now exalted,^C everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff.^D They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?”^{af 9}Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.”^a

KING HIRAM’S TWENTY TOWNS

¹⁰At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace^b—¹¹King Hiram of Tyre^c having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold^d for his every wish^e—King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. ¹²So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. ¹³So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother?” So he called them the Land of Cabul,^E as they are still called today.^{f 14}Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds^F of gold.^g

SOLOMON’S FORCED LABOR

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor^h that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces,ⁱ the wall of Jerusalem,^j and Hazor,^k Megiddo,^l and Gezer.^{m 16}Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.^{n 17}Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,^{o 18}Baalath,^p Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, ¹⁹all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities,^q the cavalry cities,^r and whatever Solomon desired to build^s in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

²⁰As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites—²¹their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely^t—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is still this way today.^{u 22}But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery;^v they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. ²³These were the deputies^w who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who supervised the people doing the work.^x

SOLOMON’S OTHER ACTIVITIES

²⁴Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David^y to the house that Solomon had built for her;^z he then built the terraces.^aa

²⁵Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord’s presence.^ab So he completed the temple.^ac

²⁶King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber,^ad which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ²⁷With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants. ²⁸They went to Ophir^ae and acquired gold there—sixteen tons^A—and delivered it to Solomon.^af

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

10The queen of Sheba^ag heard about Solomon’s fame^ah connected with the name of the Lord and came to test him with difficult questions.^{ai 2}She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing^aj spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones.^ak She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind. ³So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her. ⁴When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built,^{al 5}the food at his table,^am his servants’ residence, his attendants’ service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord’s temple, it took her breath away.

⁶She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true. ⁷But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard.^{an 8}How happy are your men.^B How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom.^{ao 9}Blessed be the Lord your God! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel,^ap because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel.^aq He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”^ar

¹⁰Then she gave the king four and a half tons^C of gold,^a a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a quantity of spices arrive as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹In addition, Hiram’s fleet that carried gold from Ophir brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones.^{b 12}The king made the almug wood into steps for the Lord’s temple and the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before did such almug wood arrive, and the like has not been seen again.

¹³King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire—whatever she asked—besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.^c

SOLOMON’S WEALTH

¹⁴The weight^d of gold that came to Solomon annually was twenty-five tons,^{A 15}besides what came from merchants,^e traders’ merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.^f

¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds^B of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; nearly four pounds^C of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.^g

¹⁸The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. ¹⁹The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.

²¹All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon^h were pure gold.ⁱ There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time, ²²for the king had ships of Tarshish^j at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.^Dk

²³King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom.^{l 24}The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.^{m 25}Every man would bring his annual tribute: items^E of silver and gold, clothing, weapons,^F spices, and horses and mules.ⁿ

²⁶Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen^o and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.^{p 27}The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones,^q and he made cedar^r as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. ²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue.^G The king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price.^{s 29}A chariot was imported from Egypt for fifteen pounds^H of silver, and a horse for four pounds.^I In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.^t