1 Kings 9:1-20

New International Version

The Lord Appears to Solomon^(A)

9 When Solomon had finished^(B) building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, ²the Lord appeared^(C) to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³The Lord said to him:

“I have heard^(D) the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name^(E) there forever. My eyes^(F) and my heart will always be there.

⁴“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart^(G) and uprightness, as David^(H) your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,^(I) ⁵I will establish^(J) your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail^(K) to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

⁶“But if you^[a] or your descendants turn away^(L) from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you^[b] and go off to serve other gods^(M) and worship them, ⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land^(N) I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name.^(O) Israel will then become a byword^(P) and an object of ridicule^(Q) among all peoples. ⁸This temple will become a heap of rubble. All^[c] who pass by will be appalled^(R) and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’^(S) ⁹People will answer,^(T) ‘Because they have forsaken^(U) the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster^(V) on them.’”

Solomon’s Other Activities^(W)

¹⁰At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace— ¹¹King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold^(X) he wanted. ¹²But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. ¹³“What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul,^[d]^(Y) a name they have to this day. ¹⁴Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents^[e] of gold.^(Z)

¹⁵Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted^(AA) to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces,^[f]^(AB) the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor,^(AC) Megiddo and Gezer.^(AD) ¹⁶(Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter,^(AE) Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,^(AF) ¹⁸Baalath,^(AG) and Tadmor^[g] in the desert, within his land, ¹⁹as well as all his store cities^(AH) and the towns for his chariots^(AI) and for his horses^[h]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

²⁰There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites,^(AJ) Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(AK) (these peoples were not Israelites).

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Footnotes

1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
1 Kings 9:8 See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew And though this temple is now imposing, all
1 Kings 9:13 Kabul sounds like the Hebrew for good-for-nothing.
1 Kings 9:14 That is, about 4 1/2 tons or about 4 metric tons
1 Kings 9:15 Or the Millo; also in verse 24
1 Kings 9:18 The Hebrew may also be read Tamar.
1 Kings 9:19 Or charioteers