1 Kings 9:10-28

1 Kings 9:10-28 AMP

Now at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the temple of the LORD and the palace of the king (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress timber [from Lebanon] and gold as he desired), at that time King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee (northern Israel). So Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him. He said, “What are these cities [good for] which you have given me, my brother?” So they have been called the land of Cabul (like nothing, unproductive) to this day. And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold. Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo (fortification), the wall of Jerusalem, [and the fortress cities of] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer, burned it with fire and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and he had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. So Solomon rebuilt [and fortified] Gezer and Lower Beth-horon, Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, and all the storage cities [for surplus provisions] which Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and whatever it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule. As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the sons (descendants) of Israel, their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to completely destroy, from them Solomon levied (conscripted) forced laborers, even to this day (the date of this writing). But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war (soldiers), his servants, his officers, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen. These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work. As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, then he built the Millo (fortification). Three times a year [during the major annual festivals] Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built to the LORD, and he burned incense with them before the LORD. So he finished the house [of the LORD]. King Solomon built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds), in the land of Edom. And Hiram [king of Tyre] sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. They came to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

Read 1 Kings 9