1 Kings 9:10–28

Solomon’s Other Achievements

¹⁰By the end of twenty years, King Solomon had built two buildings—the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace. ¹¹At that time King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had helped with the buildings. Hiram had given Solomon all the cedar, pine, and gold he wanted. ¹²So Hiram traveled from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him, but when he saw them, he was not pleased. ¹³He asked, “What good are these towns you have given me, my brother?” So he named them the Land of Cabul, ⁿ and they are still called that today. ¹⁴Hiram had sent Solomon about nine thousand pounds of gold.

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor Solomon used to build the Temple and the palace. He had them fill in the land and build the wall around Jerusalem. He also had them rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶(In the past the king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. After burning it, he killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, who married Solomon. ¹⁷So Solomon rebuilt it.) He also built the cities of Lower Beth Horon ¹⁸and Baalath, as well as Tadmor, which is in the desert. ¹⁹King Solomon also built cities for storing grain and supplies and cities for his chariots and horses. He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and everywhere he ruled.

²⁰There were other people in the land who were not Israelites—Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ²¹They were descendants of people that the Israelites had not destroyed. Solomon forced them to work for him as slaves, as is still true today. ²²But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites. They were his soldiers, government leaders, officers, captains, chariot commanders, and drivers.

²³These were his most important officers over the work. There were five hundred fifty supervisors over the people who did the work on Solomon’s projects.

²⁴The daughter of the king of Egypt moved from the old part of Jerusalem to the palace that Solomon had built for her. Then Solomon filled in the surrounding land.

²⁵Three times each year Solomon offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord. He also burned incense before the Lord. So he finished the work on the Temple.

²⁶King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, a town near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷Hiram had skilled sailors, so he sent them to serve in these ships with Solomon’s men. ²⁸The ships sailed to Ophir and brought back about thirty-two thousand pounds of gold to King Solomon.