1 *Kings 9

₁After Solomon had built the temple and the palace and he had finished everything that he wanted to do, ₂the Lord appeared to Solomon again as He appeared to him at the town of Gibeon. ₃The Lord said to Solomon: ‘I listened to you when you prayed to Me and begged. I have made this temple holy, and it now belongs to Me. I will always take care of it and remember it. ₄And if you serve Me with an honest heart as your father David did, and you do everything I tell you, and you do what I want and what I decide, ₅then your descendants will always be king_of_Israel. I will make it happen. I told your father David: “Someone from your family will always be king_of_Israel,” and that will happen.

₆But if you or your children turn away from Me, and if you do not obey the laws and commandments that I gave you, then I will leave you. If you serve other gods and you worship them, ₇then I will cut off the people of Israel from this land that I gave them and I will chase them away. I will also leave this temple that I have made holy to belong to Me, and I will destroy it. Then all the nations will talk about the Israelites and they will laugh at the Israelites. ₈This temple will become a heap of stones. Everyone who passes here will be afraid. They will whistle and ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this temple?” ₉Then the people will say: “This happened because the Israelites turned away from the Lord, the God who saved their forefathers from Egypt. They started to worship other gods and they bowed before the gods and served them. That is why the Lord made all these bad things happen to them.” ’

₁₀Solomon built the temple and his palace and after 20 years he finished it. ₁₁King Hiram of the land of Tyre gave Solomon all the cedar wood and pine wood and gold that he needed to build the temple and his palace. Solomon then gave Hiram 20 towns in the province of Galilee. ₁₂Hiram went to look at the towns that Solomon had given him, but he did not like them. ₁₃He asked Solomon: ‘My friend, why do you give me these towns? They are not good. They are worthless.’ People still today name that place ‘Worthless land.’ ₁₄Hiram had sent King Solomon 120 talents of gold to build the temple.

₁₅King Solomon made the people work very hard to build the temple and his palace. He also made the ground flat like very big steps and he built a wall around Jerusalem and the towns of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.

₁₆Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had defeated the town of Gezer and burnt it down. He killed all the Canaanite people who lived there and he gave the town to his daughter who was married to Solomon. It was his wedding gift to her. ₁₇Then Solomon built Gezer again, and also the towns of Lower-Beth-Horon, ₁₈Baalath and Tamar in the desert of the land_of_Judah. ₁₉He also built the towns and cities where he stored grain and other things, and the towns where his war-chariots and his horses were. Solomon built everything he wanted to build in Jerusalem and on Mount Lebanon and in all the places in the land where he was king. ₂₀There were still towns where people lived who were not Israelites. These were the towns where the Amorites lived, and the Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ₂₁The Israelites could not kill them all so Solomon made slaves of them and their children. They had to work for him. ₂₂But Solomon said the people of Israel could not be slaves. They were Solomon's soldiers, his guards, his officials, his officers, his captains, and the soldiers on his war-chariots and horses. ₂₃There were 550 managers who had to look after all Solomon's workers.

₂₄Pharaoh's daughter who was married to Solomon moved from the City of David to the house that Solomon had built for her, and then he made the ground flat, like very big steps, to build houses on it.

₂₅Solomon sacrificed burnt-offerings and meal-offerings on the altar that he built for the Lord. He did it 3 times every year and he burnt incense-offerings to the Lord. He did that after he had finished building the temple.

₂₆King Solomon also had boats built at the town of Ezion-Geber, near Elath in Edom. They built them on the beach of the Red Sea. ₂₇Hiram sent his seamen who knew the sea to help Solomon's seamen and to work with his men. ₂₈They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold and gave it to King Solomon.