1 Kings 9–10

1 Kings 9–10 WEB

^9:1When Solomon had finished the building of the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, ²The LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. ⁴As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, ⁵then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁶But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?’ ⁹and they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this evil on them.’” ¹⁰At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the LORD’s house and the king’s house ¹¹(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹²Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn’t please him. ¹³He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold. ¹⁵This is the reason of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted: to build the LORD’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷Solomon built in the land Gezer, Beth Horon the lower, ¹⁸Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, ¹⁹all the storage cities that Solomon had, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— ²¹their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy—of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day. ²²But of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. ²³These were the five hundred fifty chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. ²⁴But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of David’s city to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo. ²⁵Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD three times per year, burning incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house. ²⁶King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.

^10:1When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the LORD’s name, she came to test him with hard questions. ²She came to Jerusalem with a very great caravan, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart. ³Solomon answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from the king which he didn’t tell her. ⁴When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵the food of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his officials, their clothing, his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the LORD’s house, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. ⁷However, I didn’t believe the words until I came and my eyes had seen it. Behold, not even half was told me! Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. ⁸Happy are your men, happy are these your servants who stand continually before you, who hear your wisdom. ⁹Blessed is the LORD your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰She gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was there such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹¹The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought in from Ophir great quantities of almug trees and precious stones. ¹²The king made of the almug trees pillars for the LORD’s house and for the king’s house, harps also and stringed instruments for the singers; no such almug trees came or were seen to this day. ¹³King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, in addition to that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants. ¹⁴Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁵in addition to that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country. ¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler. ¹⁷He made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. Nothing like it was made in any kingdom. ²¹All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver, because it was considered of little value in the days of Solomon. ²²For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. ²³So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴All the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵Year after year, every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules. ²⁶Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He kept them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁷The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland. ²⁸The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt. The king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. ²⁹A chariot was imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty shekels; and so they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.