Chronological Plan

¹Now it happened when Solomon had finished building the house (temple) of the LORD and the king's house (palace), and all else which he was pleased to do,

²that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³The LORD told him, "I have heard your prayer and supplication which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My Name and My Presence there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

⁴As for you, if you walk (live your life) before Me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, acting in accordance with everything that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My precepts,

⁵then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, saying, 'You shall not be without a man (descendant) on the throne of Israel.'

⁶"But if you or your sons turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and I will cast out of My sight the house which I have consecrated for My Name and Presence. Then Israel will become a proverb (a saying) and a byword (object of ridicule) among all the peoples.

⁸This house (temple) will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be appalled and sneer and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this house?'

⁹And they [who know] will say, 'Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they have chosen other gods and have worshiped and served them; that is the reason the LORD has brought on them all this adversity.'"

¹⁰Now 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

¹¹(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).

¹²So Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.

¹³He 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.

¹⁴And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.

¹⁵Now 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.

¹⁶For 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.

¹⁷So Solomon rebuilt [and fortified] Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,

¹⁸Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

¹⁹and 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.

²⁰As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the sons (descendants) of Israel,

²¹their 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).

²²But 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.

²³These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work.

²⁴As 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).

²⁵Three 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].

²⁶King 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.

²⁷And Hiram [king of Tyre] sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸They came to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

¹Now it came about at the end of the twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house (palace),

²that he built and fortified the cities which Huram (Hiram) had given to him, and settled the Israelites there.

³Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all his storage cities in Hamath.

⁵He also built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars [to lock the gates];

⁶and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.

⁷All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

⁸but were descendants of those who were left in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon brought them up as forced laborers to this day.

⁹But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were men of war, his chief captains, and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief officers of King Solomon, two hundred and fifty [in authority] who ruled over the people.

¹¹Then Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David into the house (palace) he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has entered are holy."

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD which he had built in front of the porch [of the temple],

¹³a certain number every day, offering them up as Moses commanded for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles).

¹⁴Now in accordance with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering and serving before the priests as every day required, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for David the man of God had so commanded.

¹⁵And they did not deviate from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any respect or in regard to the storehouses or treasuries.

¹⁶Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the shore of the [Red] Sea in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And Huram (Hiram) sent him, by his servants, ships and servants familiar with the sea; and they went with Solomon's servants to Ophir, and took from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.