1 Kings 9

1 Kings 9

The Lord ’s Response

1When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord , the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,[#9:1–9 2Ch 7:11–22; #9:1 1Kg 7:1–2; 2Ch 7:11]

2the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.[#9:2 1Kg 3:5; 11:9]

3The Lord said to him:

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 #— #[#9:10 1Kg 6:38; 7:1; 2Ch 8:1]

11King Hiram of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish #— #King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee.[#9:11 1Kg 5:1; #9:11 Dt 17:17; #9:11 1Kg 5:10]

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, as they are still called today.[#9:13 = Like Nothing; #9:11–13 2Ch 8:2]

14Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds of gold.[#9:14 Lit 120 talents; #9:14 Dt 17:17]

Solomon’s Forced Labor

15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord ’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.[#9:15 1Kg 5:13–16; #9:15 2Sm 5:9; #9:15 1Kg 3:1; #9:15 Jos 11:1; #9:15 Jos 17:11; #9:15 Jdg 1:29]

16Pharaoh 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.[#9:16 1Kg 3:1; 7:8]

17Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,[#9:17 Jos 16:3; 2Ch 8:5]

18Baalath, Tamar , in the Wilderness of Judah,[#9:18 Jos 19:44; #9:18 Alt Hb traditions, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read Tadmor ; 2Ch 8:4; #9:18 Tamar was a city in southern Judah; Ezk 47:19; 48:28.]

19all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.[#9:19 1Kg 10:26; #9:19 1Kg 4:26; #9:19 1Kg 9:1]

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 #— #Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is still this way today.[#9:20–21 Jdg 1:21–36; 3:1; 2Ch 8:7–8; #9:21 Jdg 1:28,35; Ezr 2:55,58]

22But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.[#9:22 Lv 25:39]

23These were the deputies who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who supervised the people doing the work.[#9:23 1Kg 5:16; #9:22–23 2Ch 8:9–10]

Solomon’s Other Activities

24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces.[#9:24 2Sm 5:7; #9:24 1Kg 7:8; 2Ch 8:11; #9:24 1Kg 9:15; 11:27; 2Ch 32:5]

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. So he completed the temple.[#9:25 Dt 16:16; #9:25 2Ch 8:16]

26King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.[#9:26 Nm 33:48; 1Kg 22:48]

27With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants.

28They went to Ophir and acquired gold there #— #sixteen tons #— #and delivered it to Solomon.[#9:27–28 1Kg 10:11; 22:48–49; #9:28 Lit 420 talents; #9:28 1Kg 9:11,14]

© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Published by: LifeWay Christian Resources