1 Kings 9-10

Contemporary English Version

The Lord Appears to Solomon Again

(2 Chronicles 7.11-22)

9 The Lord's temple and Solomon's palace were now finished, and Solomon had built everything he wanted. ^2 (A) Some time later the Lord appeared to him again in a dream, just as he had done at Gibeon. ^3 (B) The Lord said:

I heard your prayer and what you asked me to do. This temple you have built is where I will be worshiped forever. It belongs to me, and I will never stop watching over it.

⁴ You must obey me, as your father David did, and be honest and fair. Obey my laws and teachings, ^5 (C) and I will keep my promise to David that someone from your family will always be king of Israel.

⁶ But if you or any of your descendants disobey my commands or start worshiping foreign gods, ⁷ I will no longer let my people Israel live in this land I gave them. I will desert this temple where I said I would be worshiped. Then people everywhere will think this nation is only a joke and will make fun of it. ^8 (D) This temple will become a pile of rocks!^[a] Everyone who walks by will be shocked, and they will ask, “Why did the Lord do such a terrible thing to his people and to this temple?” ⁹ Then they will answer, “We know why the Lord did this. The people of Israel rejected the Lord their God, who rescued their ancestors from Egypt, and they started worshiping other gods.”

Other Things Solomon Did

(2 Chronicles 8.1-18)

¹⁰ It took 20 years for the Lord's temple and Solomon's palace to be built. ¹¹ Later, Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 towns in the region of Galilee to repay him for the cedar, pine, and gold he had given Solomon.

¹² When Hiram went to see the towns, he did not like them. ¹³ He said, “Solomon, my friend, are these the kind of towns you want to give me?” So Hiram called the region Cabul because he thought it was worthless.^{[b] 14} He sent Solomon only five tons of gold in return.

¹⁵ After Solomon's workers had finished the temple and the palace, he ordered them to fill in the land on the east side of Jerusalem,^[c] to build a wall around the city, and to rebuild the towns of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶ Earlier, the king of Egypt had captured the town of Gezer; he burned it to the ground and killed the Canaanite people living there. Then he gave it to his daughter as a wedding present when she married Solomon. ¹⁷ So Solomon had the town rebuilt.

Solomon ordered his workers to rebuild Lower Beth-Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, and Tamar in the desert of Judah. ¹⁹ They also built towns where he could keep his supplies and his chariots and horses. Solomon ordered them to build whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and anywhere in his kingdom.

^20-22 Solomon did not force the Israelites to do his work. They were his soldiers, officials, leaders, commanders, chariot captains, and chariot drivers. But he did make slaves of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were living in Israel. These were the descendants of those foreigners the Israelites could not destroy, and they remained Israel's slaves.

²³ Solomon appointed 550 officers to be in charge of his workers and to watch over his building projects.

²⁴ Solomon's wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, moved from the older part of Jerusalem^[d] to her new palace. Then Solomon had the land on the east side of Jerusalem filled in.^[e]

^25 (E) Three times a year, Solomon burned incense and offered sacrifices to the Lord on the altar he had built.

Solomon had now finished building the Lord's temple.

²⁶ He also had a lot of ships at Ezion-Geber, a town in Edom near Eloth on the Red Sea.^{[f] 27-28} King Hiram let some of his experienced sailors go to the country of Ophir^[g] with Solomon's own sailors, and they brought back about 14 tons of gold for Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

(2 Chronicles 9.1-12)

10 ^(F) The Queen of Sheba heard how famous Solomon was, so she went to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. ² She took along several of her officials, and she loaded her camels with gifts of spices, jewels, and gold. When she arrived, she and Solomon talked about everything she could think of. ³ He answered every question, no matter how difficult it was.

^4-5 The Queen was amazed at Solomon's wisdom. She was breathless when she saw his palace, the food on his table, his officials, his servants in their uniforms, the people who served his food, and the sacrifices he offered at the Lord's temple. ⁶ She said:

Solomon, in my own country I had heard about your wisdom and all you've done. ⁷ But I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes! And there's so much I didn't hear about. You are wiser and richer than I was told. ⁸ Your wives^[h] and officials are lucky to be here where they can listen to the wise things you say.

⁹ I praise the Lord your God. He is pleased with you and has made you king of Israel. The Lord has always loved Israel, so he has given them a king who will rule fairly and honestly.

¹⁰ The Queen of Sheba gave Solomon more than four tons of gold, many jewels, and more spices than anyone had ever brought into Israel.

^11-13 In return, Solomon gave her the gifts he would have given any other ruler, but he also gave her everything else she wanted. Then she and her officials went back to their own country.

Solomon's Wealth

(2 Chronicles 9.13-28)

King Hiram's ships brought gold, juniper wood, and jewels from the country of Ophir. Solomon used the wood to make steps^[i] for the temple and palace, and harps and other stringed instruments for the musicians. It was the best juniper wood anyone in Israel had ever seen.

¹⁴ Solomon received almost 23 tons of gold a year. ¹⁵ The merchants and traders, as well as the kings of Arabia and rulers from Israel, also gave him gold.

¹⁶ Solomon made 200 gold shields and used almost seven kilograms of gold for each one. ¹⁷ He also made 300 smaller gold shields, using almost two kilograms for each one, and he put the shields in his palace in Forest Hall.

¹⁸ His throne was made of ivory and covered with pure gold. ^19-20 The back of the throne was rounded at the top, and it had armrests on each side. There was a statue of a lion on both sides of the throne, and there was a statue of a lion at both ends of each of the six steps leading up to the throne. No other throne in the world was like Solomon's.

²¹ Since silver was almost worthless in those days, everything was made of gold, even the cups and dishes used in Forest Hall.

²² Solomon had a lot of seagoing ships.^[j] Every three years he sent them out with Hiram's ships to bring back gold, silver, and ivory, as well as monkeys and peacocks.^[k]

²³ He was the richest and wisest king in the world. ²⁴ People from every nation wanted to hear the wisdom God had given him. ²⁵ Year after year people came and brought gifts of silver and gold, as well as clothes, weapons, spices, horses, or mules.

^26 (G) Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses that he kept in Jerusalem and other towns.

^27 (H) While he was king, there was silver everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as ordinary sycamore trees in the foothills.

^28-29 (I) Solomon's merchants bought his horses and chariots in the regions of Musri and Kue.^[l] They paid 600 pieces of silver for a chariot and 150 pieces of silver for a horse. They also sold horses and chariots to the Hittite and Syrian kings.