Our Father Answers Solomon's Prayer
9 1 When Solomon finished building our Father's house, the royal palace, and all he wanted to do, 2 our Father appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And our Father said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea made before me. I have dedicated this house you built, to put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there always." 4 You—if you walk before me as your father David did, in whole heart and integrity, doing all I commanded and keeping my statutes and rules, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father: 'You will never lack a man on Israel's throne.' 6 But if you or your children turn away from me, fail to keep the commands and statutes I gave you, and go serve other gods and worship them, 7 I will cut Israel off from the land I gave them, and cast from my presence this temple I dedicated to my name; Israel will become a proverb and mockery among all peoples. 8 This house will become rubble; passersby will be appalled and hiss, asking, 'Why did the LORD do this to this land and this house?' 9 They will say, 'Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, took hold of other gods, bowed to them, and served them—so the LORD brought all this disaster on them.'
Solomon's Cities, Labor, and Ships
10 After twenty years, Solomon had built the two houses—our Father's house and the royal palace 11 —Hiram king of Tyre supplied Solomon cedar, cypress, and gold he wanted; King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in Galilee. 12 Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns Solomon gave him, but they didn't please him. 13 He asked, "What are these towns you gave me, my brother?" So he called them the land of Cabul, still their name today. a a v13 Cabul sounds like the Hebrew for "like nothing" or "worthless" — Hiram's blunt verdict on the towns. 14 Hiram had sent the king about four tons of gold.
15 This is the record of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build our Father's house, his palace, the Millo, Jerusalem's wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, captured Gezer, burned it, killed its Canaanite residents, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18 Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, within the land, 19 and all Solomon's store cities, the cities for his chariots and horsemen, and whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land he ruled. 20 All who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites 21 Solomon conscripted their descendants remaining after them in the land, whom Israel could not destroy, for forced labor—as they still are today. 22 Solomon enslaved no Israelites; they were his soldiers, servants, officials, commanders, captains, and commanders of his chariots and horsemen. 23 These were Solomon's chief officers over the work: 550 supervising the workers.
24 Once Pharaoh's daughter moved from the City of David to the house Solomon built her, he built the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt and peace offerings on the altar he built for our Father, burning incense before him with the offerings. So he finished the house.
26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion-geber, near Eloth on the Red Sea shore, in the land of Edom. 27 Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, alongside Solomon's servants. 28 They sailed to Ophir, took sixteen tons of gold from there, and delivered it to King Solomon.
