| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1So Solomon finished building the Temple of the LORD, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do. | 1Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do, |
| 2Then the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had done before at Gibeon. | 2the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. |
| 3The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. | 3And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time. |
| 4“As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, | 4And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, |
| 5then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ | 5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ |
| 6“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, | 6But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods, |
| 7then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. | 7then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples. |
| 8And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’ | 8And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ |
| 9“And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the LORD has brought all these disasters on them.’” Solomon’s Agreement with Hiram | 9And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’ ” |
| 10It took Solomon twenty years to build the LORD’s Temple and his own royal palace. At the end of that time, | 10Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace, |
| 11he gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre. (Hiram had previously provided all the cedar and cypress timber and gold that Solomon had requested.) | 11King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire. |
| 12But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him, he was not at all pleased with them. | 12So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. |
| 13“What kind of towns are these, my brother?” he asked. So Hiram called that area Cabul (which means “worthless”), as it is still known today. | 13“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day. |
| 14Nevertheless, Hiram paid Solomon 9,000 pounds of gold. Solomon’s Many Achievements | 14And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold. |
| 15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD’s Temple, the royal palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. | 15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. |
| 16(Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, killing the Canaanite population and burning it down. He gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Solomon. | 16Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. |
| 17So Solomon rebuilt the city of Gezer.) He also built up the towns of Lower Beth-horon, | 17So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, |
| 18Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness within his land. | 18Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, |
| 19He built towns as supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm. | 19as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion. |
| 20There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. | 20As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)— |
| 21These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not completely destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them as slaves, and they serve as forced laborers to this day. | 21their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day. |
| 22But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for forced labor. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, government officials, officers and captains in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. | 22But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. |
| 23Solomon appointed 550 of them to supervise the people working on his various projects. | 23They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work. |
| 24Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. Then he constructed the supporting terraces. | 24As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces. |
| 25Three times each year Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD. He also burned incense to the LORD. And so he finished the work of building the Temple. | 25Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple. |
| 26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, a port near Elath in the land of Edom, along the shore of the Red Sea. | 26King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. |
| 27Hiram sent experienced crews of sailors to sail the ships with Solomon’s men. | 27And Hiram sent his servants, men who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants. |
| 28They sailed to Ophir and brought back to Solomon some sixteen tons of gold. | 28They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon. |
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