CHAPTER 9
Now
when Solomon
had finished
building
the house
of the LORD
and
the royal
palace,
and had achieved
all
that
he
had desired
to do,
And the LORD
said
to him,
“I have heard
your prayer
and petition
before Me.
I have consecrated
this
temple
you have built
by putting
My Name
there
forever;
My eyes
and My heart
will be
there
for all time.
And as for you,
if
you walk
before
Me as
your father
David
walked,
with a heart
of integrity
and uprightness,
doing
all
I have commanded you,
and if you keep
My statutes
and ordinances,
then I will establish
your royal
throne
over
Israel forever,
as
I promised
your father
David
when I said,
‘You will never
fail
to have a man
on
the throne
of Israel.’
But if
indeed
you
or your sons
turn away
from following Me
and do not
keep
the commandments
and statutes
I have set
before you,
and if you go off
to serve
and worship
other
gods,
then I will cut off
Israel
from
the land
I have given
them,
and this
temple
that
I have sanctified
for My name
I will banish
from
My presence.
Then Israel
will become
an object of scorn
and ridicule
among all
peoples.
And this
temple
will now
become a heap of rubble.
All
who pass
by it
will be appalled
and will hiss
and say,
‘Why
has the LORD
done
such a thing
to this
land
and to this
temple?’
And others will answer,
‘Because
they have forsaken
the LORD
their God
who
brought
their fathers
out
of Egypt,
and have embraced
other
gods,
worshiping
and serving them.
Because of
this,
the LORD
has brought
all
this
disaster
upon them.'"
Now
at the end
of the twenty
years
during which
Solomon
built
these two
houses,
the house
of the LORD
and the royal
palace,
King
Solomon
gave
twenty
towns
in the land
of Galilee
to Hiram
king
of Tyre,
who had supplied
him
with cedar
and cypress
logs
and gold
for his every
desire.
So Hiram
went out
from Tyre
to look over
the towns
that
Solomon
had given
him,
but he was not
pleased with
them.
“What
are these
towns
you have given
me,
my brother?”
asked Hiram,
and he called
them
the land
of Cabul,
as they are called to
this
day.
This
is the account
of the forced labor
that
King
Solomon
imposed
to build
the house
of the LORD,
his own palace,
the supporting terraces,
and
the wall
of Jerusalem,
as well as
Hazor,
Megiddo,
and Gezer.
Pharaoh
king
of Egypt
had attacked
and captured
Gezer.
He had set it
on fire,
killed
the Canaanites
who lived
in the city,
and given
it as a dowry
to his daughter,
Solomon’s
wife.
as well
as all
the store
cities
that
Solomon
had
for his chariots
and horses—
whatever
he
desired
to build
in Jerusalem,
Lebanon,
and throughout
the land
of his dominion.
As for all
the people
who remained
of
the Amorites,
Hittites,
Perizzites,
Hivites,
and Jebusites
(the people who
were
not
Israelites
)—
their descendants
who
remained
in the land,
those whom
the Israelites
were unable
to destroy completely—
Solomon
conscripted these people
to be forced
laborers,
as they are to
this
day.
But Solomon
did not
consign
any of the Israelites
to slavery,
because
they were
his men
of war,
his servants,
his officers,
his captains,
and the commanders
of his chariots
and cavalry.
They
were also the chief
officers
over
Solomon’s
projects:
550
supervisors over
the people
who did
the work.
As soon as
Pharaoh’s
daughter
had come up
from the City
of David
to
the palace
that
Solomon had built
for her,
he
built
the supporting terraces.
Three
times
a year
Solomon
offered
burnt offerings
and peace offerings
on
the altar
he had built
for the LORD,
burning incense
with them
before
the LORD.
So he completed
the temple.
King
Solomon
also assembled
a fleet of ships
at Ezion-geber,
which
is near
Eloth
in
Edom,
on
the shore
of the Red
Sea.
And Hiram
sent
his servants,
men
who knew
the sea,
to serve in the fleet
with
Solomon’s
servants.