1 Kings 9–10

The Lord’s Response

9When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord, ^lthe royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do, ^m2the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. ⁿ³The 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 My name there forever; ^oMy eyes and My heart will be there at all times. ^p

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, ^q5I 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. ^r

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 worship them, ^s7I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, ^tand I will reject ^uthe temple I have sanctified for My name. ^vIsrael will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. ^w8Though this temple is now exalted, ^xeveryone who passes by will be appalled and will mock. ^yThey will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple? ^z9Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them. ^a

King Hiram’s 20 Towns

¹⁰At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace ^b— ¹¹Hiram king of Tyre ^chaving supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold ^dfor his every wish ^e—King Solomon gave Hiram 20 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, ^fas they are still called today. ^g14Now Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds ^hof gold. ⁱ

Solomon’s Forced Labor

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor ^jthat King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, ^kthe wall of Jerusalem, ^land Hazor, ^mMegiddo, ⁿand Gezer. ^o16Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ^p17Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, ^q18Baalath, ^rTamar ^stin the Wilderness of Judah, ¹⁹all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, ^uthe cavalry cities, ^vand whatever Solomon desired to build ^win Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

²⁰As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites— ²¹their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to completely destroy ^x—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way until today. ^y22But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; ^zthey were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. ²³These were the deputies ^awho were over Solomon’s work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work. ^b

Solomon’s Other Activities

²⁴Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David ^cto the house that Solomon had built for her; ^dhe then built the terraces. ^e

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. ^fSo he completed the temple. ^g

²⁶King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, ^hwhich 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 ⁱand acquired gold there—16 tons ^j—and delivered it to Solomon. ^k

The Queen of Sheba

10The queen of Sheba ^lheard about Solomon’s fame ^mconnected with the name of Yahweh and came to test him with difficult questions. ⁿ²She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing ^ospices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. ^pShe 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, ^q5the food at his table, ^rhis 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. ^s8How happy are your men. ^tHow happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. ^u9May Yahweh your God be praised! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, ^vbecause of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel. ^wHe has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.” ^x

¹⁰Then she gave the king four and a half tons ^yof gold, ^za 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 ^awood and precious stones. ^b12The 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 had such almug wood come, and the like has not been seen again even to this very day.

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 ^dof gold that came to Solomon annually was 25 tons, ^e15besides what came from merchants, ^ftraders’ merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. ^g

¹⁶King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds ^hof gold went into each shield. ¹⁷He made 300 small shields of hammered gold; about four pounds ⁱof gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ^j

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 ^kwere pure gold. ^lThere was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time, ²²for the king had ships of Tarshish ^mat sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. ^no

²³King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom. ^p24The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. ^q25Every man would bring his annual tribute: items ^rof silver and gold, clothing, weapons, ^sspices, and horses and mules. ^t

²⁶Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen ^uand stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^v27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, ^wand he made cedar ^xas abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. ²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. ^yThe king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price. ^z29A chariot was imported from Egypt for 15 pounds ^aof silver, and a horse for about four pounds. ^bIn the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents. ^c