1 Kings 9:1-11:13

American Standard Version

9 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Jehovah, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s ^[a]desire which he was pleased to do, ² that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. ³ And Jehovah said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. ⁴ And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and mine ordinances; ⁵ then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, according as I ^[b]promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. ⁶ But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; ⁷ then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ^8 [c]And though this house is so high, yet shall every one that passeth by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath Jehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house? ⁹ and they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath Jehovah brought all this evil upon them.

¹⁰ And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king’s house ¹¹ (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. ¹³ And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And ^[d]he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. ¹⁴ And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

¹⁵ And this is the ^[e]reason of the ^[f]levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, ¹⁸ and Baalath, and ^[g]Tamar in the wilderness, in the land, ¹⁹ and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and 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. ²⁰ As for all the people that were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel; ²¹ their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able ^[h]utterly to destroy, of them did Solomon raise ^[i]a levy of bondservants unto this day. ²² But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

²³ These were the chief officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.

²⁵ And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar which he built unto Jehovah, burning incense therewith, upon the altar that was before Jehovah. So he finished the house.

²⁶ And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷ And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

10 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions. ² And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ³ And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. ⁴ And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁵ and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the ^[j]attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and ^[k]his ascent by which he went up unto the house of Jehovah; there was no more spirit in her. ⁶ And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine ^[l]acts, and of thy wisdom. ⁷ Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me; ^[m]thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. ⁸ Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. ⁹ Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because Jehovah loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do justice and righteousness. ¹⁰ And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹¹ And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of ^[n]almug-trees and precious stones. ¹² And the king made of the almug-trees ^[o]pillars for the house of Jehovah, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, unto this day.

¹³ And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that ^[p]which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹⁴ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, ¹⁵ besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of ^[q]the mingled people, and of the governors of the country. ¹⁶ And king Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler. ¹⁷ And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three ^[r]pounds of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹ There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were ^[s]stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays. ²⁰ And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. ²¹ And all 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; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²³ So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴ And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁶ And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁷ And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. ²⁸ And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. ²⁹ And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out ^[t]by their means.

11 Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, ^[u]together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites; ² of the nations concerning which Jehovah said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. ³ And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and went not fully after Jehovah, as did David his father. ⁷ Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. ⁸ And so did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

⁹ And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which Jehovah commanded. ¹¹ Wherefore Jehovah said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this ^[v]is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. ¹² Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. ¹³ Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.