1 Kings 9:1-11:13

International Children’s Bible

The Lord Appears to Solomon Again

9 So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord and his royal palace. Solomon finished building everything he wanted to build. ² Then the Lord appeared to him again. This was just as he had done before, in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer. I have heard what you asked me to do. You built this Temple. And I have made it a holy place. So I will be worshiped there forever. I will watch over it and protect it always.

⁴ “But you must serve me as your father David did. He was fair and sincere. You must obey my laws and do everything I command. ⁵ If you do these things, I will allow your family to rule Israel forever. I made this promise to your father David. I told him that someone from his family would always be king over Israel.

⁶ “But you and your children must follow me. You must obey the laws and commands I have given you. You must not go off to serve or worship other gods. ⁷ If you do, I will force Israel to leave the land I have given them. I made the Temple holy for people to worship me there. But if you don’t obey me, I will tear it down. Then Israel will become a bad example, a joke, to other people. ⁸ If the Temple is destroyed, everyone who sees it will be shocked. They will make fun of you and ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this? Why did he do this terrible thing to this land and this Temple?’ ⁹ Other people will answer, ‘This happened because they left the Lord their God. He brought their ancestors out of Egypt. But they decided to follow other gods. They worshiped and served those gods. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster to them.’”

Solomon’s Other Activities

¹⁰ By the end of 20 years, King Solomon had built the Temple of the Lord. And he had built the royal palace. ¹¹ At that time King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre. Solomon did this because Hiram had helped with the buildings. Hiram had given him all the cedar, pine and gold he wanted. ¹² So Hiram traveled from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. When Hiram saw them, he was not pleased. ¹³ He asked, “What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” So he named that land the Land of Cabul.^[a] And it is still called that today. ¹⁴ Hiram had sent to King Solomon about 9,000 pounds of gold.

¹⁵ King Solomon had forced slaves to build the Temple and the palace. Then he had them fill in the land on the east side of the city. And he had them 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 Gezer and captured it. He had burned it and killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he gave it to his daughter as a wedding present. His daughter married Solomon. ¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt it.) He also built the cities of Lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath and Tadmor, which is in the Judean desert. ¹⁹ King Solomon also built cities where he could store grain and supplies. And he built cities for his chariots and chariot soldiers. Solomon built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon and everywhere he ruled.

²⁰ There were people in the land who were not Israelites. There were some Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ²¹ The Israelites had not been able to destroy them from the land. So Solomon forced them to work for him as slaves. And they are still slaves today. ²² But Solomon did not force any Israelites to be his slaves. The Israelites were his soldiers, government leaders, officers, captains and chariot commanders and drivers.

²³ There were 550 supervisors over Solomon’s projects. They were supervisors over the men who did the work.

²⁴ The daughter of the king of Egypt moved from the old part of Jerusalem to the palace. This was the palace Solomon had built for her. Then Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city.

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

²⁶ Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. This town is near Elath. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. ²⁷ King Hiram had sailors who knew much about the sea. So he sent them to serve in Solomon’s ships with Solomon’s men. ²⁸ Solomon’s ships sailed to Ophir. From there they brought back about 32,000 pounds of gold to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

10 Now the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame. So she came to test him with hard questions. ² She traveled to Jerusalem with a very large group of servants. There were many camels carrying spices, jewels and much gold. She came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had in mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. ⁴ The queen of Sheba learned that Solomon was very wise. She saw the palace he had built. ⁵ She saw his many officers and the food on his table. She saw the palace servants and their good clothes. She was shown the servants who served him at feasts. And she was shown the whole burnt offerings he made in the Temple of the Lord. All these things amazed her.

⁶ So she said to King Solomon, “I heard in my own country about your achievements and wisdom. And all of it is true. ⁷ I could not believe it then. But now I have come and seen it with my own eyes. I was not told even half of it! Your wisdom and wealth are much greater than I had heard. ⁸ Your men and officers are very lucky! In always serving you, they are able to hear your wisdom! ⁹ Praise the Lord your God! He was pleased to make you king of Israel. The Lord has constant love for Israel. So he made you king to keep justice and to rule fairly.”

¹⁰ Then the queen of Sheba gave the king about 9,000 pounds of gold. She also gave him many spices and jewels. No one since that time has brought more spices into Israel than the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹¹ (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir. They also brought from there very much juniper wood and jewels. ¹² Solomon used the juniper wood to build supports for the Temple of the Lord and the palace. He also used it to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Such fine juniper wood has not been brought in or seen since that time.)

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba many gifts. He gave her gifts that a king would give to another ruler. Then he gave her whatever else she wanted and asked for. After this, she and her servants went back to her own country.

Solomon’s Wealth

¹⁴ Every year King Solomon received about 50,000 pounds of gold. ¹⁵ Besides that he also received gold from the traders and merchants. And he received gold from the kings of Arabia and governors of the land.

¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold. Each shield contained about seven and one-half pounds of gold. ¹⁷ He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold. They each contained about three and three-fourths pounds of gold. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ Then King Solomon built a large throne of ivory. And he covered it with pure gold. ¹⁹ There were six steps leading up to the throne. The back of the throne was round at the top. There were armrests on both sides of the chair. And beside each armrest was a statue of a lion. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the six steps. There was one lion at each end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any other kingdom. ²¹ All of Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold. All of the dishes in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made from silver. In Solomon’s time people did not think silver was valuable.

²² King Solomon also had many trading ships at sea, along with Hiram’s ships. Every three years the ships returned. They brought back gold, silver, ivory, apes and baboons.

²³ So Solomon had more riches and wisdom than all the other kings on earth. ²⁴ People everywhere wanted to see King Solomon. They wanted to hear the wisdom God had given him. ²⁵ Every year everyone who came brought a gift. They brought things made of gold and silver, along with clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

²⁶ So Solomon had many chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 chariot soldiers. He kept some in special cities for the chariots. And he kept some with him in Jerusalem. ²⁷ In Jerusalem silver was as common as stones while Solomon was king. Cedar trees were as common as the fig trees growing on the mountain slopes. ²⁸ Solomon brought in horses from Egypt and Kue. His traders bought them in Kue and brought them to Israel. ²⁹ A chariot from Egypt cost about 15 pounds of silver. And a horse cost about 3¾ pounds of silver. The traders also sold horses and chariots to the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans.

Solomon’s Many Wives

11 But King Solomon loved many women who were not from Israel. He loved the daughter of the king of Egypt. He also loved women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² The Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not marry people of other nations. If you do, they will cause you to follow their gods.” But Solomon fell in love with these women. ³ He had 700 wives who were from royal families. He also had 300 slave women who gave birth to his children. His wives caused him to turn away from God. ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives caused him to follow other gods. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done. ⁵ Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the people of Sidon. And he worshiped Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what the Lord said was wrong. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done.

⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built two places for worship. He built a place to worship Chemosh, the hated god of the Moabites. And he built a place to worship Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. ⁸ Solomon did the same thing for all of his foreign wives. So they burned incense and gave sacrifices to their gods.

⁹ The Lord had appeared to Solomon twice. But Solomon turned away from following the Lord, the God of Israel. So the Lord was angry with him. ¹⁰ The Lord had commanded Solomon not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord’s command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “You have chosen to break your agreement with me. You have not obeyed my commands. So I promise I will tear your kingdom away from you. I will give it to one of your officers. ¹² But I will not take it away while you are alive. This is because of my love for your father David. I will tear it away from your son when he becomes king. ¹³ But I will not tear away all the kingdom from him. I will leave him one tribe to rule. I will do this because of David, my servant. And I will do it because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen.”