1 Kings 9:1–23

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.