1 Kings 9

And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,

1Solomon finished building the temple, God's house. He also finished his own palace. He built everything else he wanted to build.

2That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

2Then the LORD came to Solomon a second time. He had come to him before at a place called Gibeon.

3And the LORD 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 mine heart shall be there perpetually.

3The LORD said, "I heard you when you prayed and asked me for help. I have made this house holy, set apart just for me. My name will be here forever. I will always watch over it and love it.

4And 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 my judgments:

4"Now you must live the way your father David lived. He had an honest heart and did what was right. Do everything I have told you to do. Keep all my rules and my laws.

5Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

5"If you do, I will keep your family ruling Israel forever. I promised your father David this. I said someone from his family would always be king.

6But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

6"But you and your children may turn away from me. You may stop keeping the commands and rules I gave you. You may go and serve other gods and bow down to them.

7Then 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 people:

7"If that happens, I will take Israel out of the land I gave them. I will push away this house, even though I made it holy for my name. Then people everywhere will make fun of Israel.

8And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?

8"This house is grand now. But everyone who walks past it will be shocked. They will whistle in surprise. They will ask, 'Why did the LORD do this to this land and this house?'

Note"Hiss" here does not mean booing. It means people made a sharp sound because they were surprised and upset.

9And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.

9"Others will answer, 'Because they left the LORD their God. He brought their fathers out of Egypt. But they held on to other gods and bowed down and served them. That is why the LORD sent all this trouble on them.'"

10And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house,

10Twenty years went by while Solomon built the two buildings. One was the temple, God's house. The other was his own palace.

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.

11Hiram, the king of Tyre, had helped Solomon a lot. He sent cedar wood, pine wood, and gold, as much as Solomon wanted. So Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee.

12And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.

12Hiram left Tyre to go look at the towns Solomon gave him. He did not like them.

13And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

13He said, "What kind of towns are these, my brother?" He named that area the land of Cabul. People still call it that.

14And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

14Hiram had sent the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

NoteA talent was a large weight, about 75 pounds. So this gift was a huge amount of gold.

15And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

15Solomon made people work for him without pay. This is what they built: the temple, his own palace, the walls that held up the hill, the wall around Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

NoteThe KJV calls the terraces "Millo." It was a set of stone walls and platforms that held up the sloping ground in Jerusalem so buildings could stand there.

16For 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 present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

16Long before, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked the city of Gezer. He burned it and killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift. She had married Solomon.

17And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether,

17So Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He also built Lower Beth-horon.

18And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

18He built Baalath and Tadmor out in the dry, empty land.

19And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

19He built towns where he stored supplies. He built towns for his chariots and for the men who rode his horses. He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and everywhere else he ruled.

20And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,

20Some people still lived in the land who were not Israelites. They were the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

21Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.

21The Israelites had not been able to destroy these people completely. Their children were still in the land. Solomon made them work for him without pay. They still do this work today.

22But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.

22But Solomon did not make any Israelites work as slaves. They were his soldiers, his helpers, and his leaders. Some led his army. Some drove his chariots or rode his horses.

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

23Five hundred fifty men were the chief bosses over Solomon's building work. They told the workers what to do.

24But 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.

24Pharaoh's daughter moved up from the City of David. She went to the house Solomon had built for her. After that, he built the walls that held up the hill.

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

25Three times each year, Solomon brought gifts to God. He burned offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD. He also burned sweet-smelling incense there. So the temple was finished and in use.

26And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

26King Solomon also built a group of ships at a place called Ezion-geber. It is near Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

27And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

27Hiram sent his own men to sail with those ships. They knew the sea well. They worked with Solomon's men.

28And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

28They sailed to a place called Ophir. They brought back four hundred twenty talents of gold and gave it to King Solomon.