1 Kings 9

1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had made an end of building the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king, and everything that Solomon desired, which he was pleased to make,

After Solomon’s [workers] had finished building the temple and his palace and everything else that Solomon wanted them to build,

2 then appeared Yahweh unto Solomon, a second time, —as he appeared unto him, in Gibeon.

Yahweh appeared to him [in a dream] a second time, like he had appeared to him at [the city of] Gibeon.

3 And Yahweh said unto him—I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, wherewith thou hast made supplication before me, I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my Name there unto times age-abiding, —and mine eyes and my heart shall be there, continually:

Yahweh said to him, “I heard what you prayed and what you pleaded for me to do. I have set apart/dedicated this temple which your [workers] have built to be the place where people will worship me forever. I will always watch over it and protect it.

4 As for thee, therefore, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, with a whole heart and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, —and, my statutes and my regulations, wilt keep,

“And as for you, if you conduct your life as I want you to, like your father David did, and if you very sincerely obey all the statutes and laws that I have commanded you to obey,

5 then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel, unto times age-abiding, —as I promised unto David thy father, saying, There shall not be cut off to thee a man, from off the throne of Israel.

I will do what I promised your father that I would do: I promised him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants.

6 If ye, turn back, ye or your sons, from following me, and keep not my commandments, my statutes, which I have set before you, —but depart and serve other gods, and bow yourselves down to them,

“But if you or your descendants turn away from me and disobey the commands and decrees that I have given to you, and if you start to worship other gods,

7 then will I cut off Israel, from the face of the soil, which I have given unto them, and, the house which I have hallowed for my Name, will I suffer to be carried away from before me, —and Israel shall become a byword and a mockery, among all the peoples;

I will remove my Israeli people from the land that I have given to them. I will also abandon this temple that I have set apart/dedicated to be the place where people should worship me. Then people everywhere will despise [the people of] Israel and make fun of them.

8 and, this house which had been renowned, shall be desolate, every one that passeth by it, shall be astonished and shall whistle, —and men shall say—For what cause, hath Yahweh done, thus, unto this land, and unto this house?

This temple will become a heap of ruins. Everyone who passes by will be astonished [when they see it], and they will be shocked and say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land and to this temple?’

9 And men will answer—Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and bowed themselves down to them, and served them, for this cause, hath Yahweh brought in upon them all this ruin.

And other people will reply, ‘It happened because the Israeli people abandoned Yahweh their God, the one who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They started to accept and worship other gods. And that is why Yahweh has caused them to experience all these disasters.’”

10 And it came to pass, at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, —the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king;

Solomon’s [workers] labored for 20 years to build the temple and the palace.

11 Hiram king of Tyre having supplied Solomon with timber of cedar, and with timber of fir, and with gold, according to all his desire, that, then, King Solomon gave unto Hiram twenty cities, in the land of Galilee.

Hiram, the king of Tyre had [arranged for his workers to] give Solomon all the cedar and pine [logs] and all the gold that he needed [for this work]. After it was all finished, King Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the Galilee region.

12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to view the cities which, Solomon, had given him, —and they were not pleasing in his eyes.

But when Hiram went from Tyre [to Galilee] to see the cities that Solomon had given to him, he was not pleased with them.

13 So he said—What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them, Unfruitful Land, [as they are called] unto this day.

He said to Solomon, “My friend, those cities that you gave me are worthless!” So, that area is still called ‘Worthless’.

14 Now Hiram had sent to the king, —a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Hiram paid Solomon only five tons of gold [for those cities].

15 Now, the following, is an account of the tax which King Solomon raised, for building the house of Yahweh and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, —and Hazor and Megiddo, and Gezer.

This is a record of the work that King Solomon forced men to do. He forced them to build the temple and his palace and the terraces/landfills [on the east side of the city], and the wall around Jerusalem, and [to rebuild the cities of] Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer.

16 Pharaoh king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer, and burned it with fire, the Canaanites also who were dwelling in the city, had he slain, —and had given it as a dowry, to his daughter, wife of Solomon.

[The reason they needed to rebuild Gezer was that the army of] the king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it. Then they had burned [the houses in] the city and killed all the people of the Canaan people-group who lived there. The king of Egypt gave that city to his daughter as a gift when she married Solomon.

17 So then Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon, the nether,

So Solomon’s workers also rebuilt Gezer, and they also rebuilt Lower Beth-Horon [city].

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

They also rebuilt Baalath and Tamar [towns] in the desert in [the southern part of] Judah.

19 also all the store cities, which Solomon had, and the cities for chariots, and the cities for horsemen, —and the desire of Solomon that he was pleased to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land that he ruled over.

They also built cities where they kept the supplies for Solomon, the places where his horses and chariots were kept. They also built everything else that Solomon wanted them to build, in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and in other places in the area over which he ruled.

20 All the people that were left, of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were, not of the sons of Israel;

There were many people who belonged to the Amor people-group, the Heth people-group, the Periz people-group, the Hiv people-group, and the Jebus people-group who were not killed when the Israelis captured their land.

21 their sons, who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able to devote to destruction, Solomon levied them for a toiling labour-band [which remaineth] unto this day.

[Their descendants still lived in Israel]. It was those people whom Solomon forced to become his slaves [to build all those places], and they are still slaves.

22 But, of the sons of Israel, Solomon devoted none to bond-service, —but, they, were men of war, and his servants, and his generals, and his heroes, and captains of his chariots, and his horsemen.

But Solomon did not force any Israeli people to become slaves. Some Israelis became soldiers and army officers and commanders and drivers of his chariots and soldiers who rode on horses.

23 These, were the chiefs of the officers, who were over the work, for Solomon, five hundred and fifty, —who ruled over the people that wrought in the work.

There were 550 officials who supervised the slaves who worked [to build all those places].

24 Scarcely had Pharaoh’s daughter come up out of the city of David, into her own house, which he had built for her, when he built Millo.

After [Solomon’s wife, who was] the daughter of the king of Egypt, moved from [the place outside Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’ to the palace that Solomon’s workers built for her, Solomon [told his workers to] fill in the slopes on the east side of the city.

25 And Solomon used to offer, three times a year, ascending-sacrifices and peace-offerings, upon the altar which he had built unto Yahweh, and to offer incense at the altar which was before Yahweh, —thus Solomon gave completeness unto the house.

Three times each year Solomon [brought to the temple] offerings that were completely burned [on the altar] and offerings to restore fellowship with Yahweh. He also brought incense to be burned in the presence of Yahweh. And so his men finished building the temple.

26 A fleet also, did King Solomon build in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

King Solomon’s [workers] also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber [city], which is near Elath [city], on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land belonging to the Edom people-group.

27 And Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, seamen, having knowledge of the sea, —with the servants of Solomon;

[King] Hiram sent some very expert sailors to work on the ships with Solomon’s workers.

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

They sailed to [the] Ophir [region] and brought back to Solomon about 16 tons of gold.