1 Kings 9:1 – 10:13

God Renews His Promises to Solomon

1 Kings 9

¹ When Solomon had finished building the house for the Lord and the house for the king, and he had done all that he desired, ² the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, just as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him:

Solomon Completes His Projects

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, when Solomon had completed these two buildings, the house of the Lord and the house of the king, ¹¹ King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee, because Hiram king of Tyre had been supplying Solomon with cedar and fir wood and with as much gold as he desired. ¹² So Hiram left Tyre to see the towns which Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased.

¹³ He said, “What kind of towns are these towns which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the Land of Kabul, ^[4] a name they have to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram had sent the king one hundred twenty talents ^[5] of gold.

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor, which King Solomon raised to build the house for the Lord, his own house, the Millo, ^[6] and the walls of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer. He burned it and killed the Canaanites who were living in the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) ¹⁷ So Solomon built Gezer, lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, Tadmor ^[7] in the wilderness, ¹⁹ all of Solomon’s towns for storehouses, the towns for his chariots, the towns for charioteers, ^[8] and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land he ruled.

²⁰ All the people who remained from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not part of the people of Israel— ²¹ their descendants who remained in the land, whom the Israelites were not able to destroy completely—were drafted for forced labor by Solomon. They are serving right up to this day. ²² But Solomon did not press the people of Israel into service. Rather, they were his warriors, his government officials, his staff, his military officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his charioteers. ²³ These were the officials who were overseeing Solomon’s work. Five hundred fifty officials were overseeing the people doing the work.

²⁴ Pharaoh’s daughter moved up from the City of David to the house Solomon built for her. Then he built the Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar which he had built before the Lord, and he burned incense before the Lord. In this way he completed the temple.

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet at Ezion Geber, which is near Elat on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Then, along with that fleet, Hiram sent his servants, men who worked on ships and who knew the sea, to serve with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir, and they obtained four hundred twenty talents ^[9] of gold there and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

1 Kings 10

¹ The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame, which was connected with the fame of the Lord, so she came to test him with hard questions. ² She came to Jerusalem with a very great entourage ^[10]—with camels carrying spices and a large quantity of gold and precious stones. She came to Solomon and told him everything that was on her heart.

³ Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.

⁴ The Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he built, ⁵ and the food on his table. When she saw the council meeting of his officials, the careful attention of his ministers, ^[11] as well as their attire, his cupbearers, and the whole burnt offerings which he offered at the House of the Lord, ^[12] it took her breath away.

⁶ She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your accomplishments ^[13] and your wisdom is true. ⁷ I did not believe the report until I came and saw it with my own eyes. The truth is, not even half of it was told to me! Your wisdom and wealth surpass the report which I heard. ⁸ Blessed are your men, blessed are your servants, who stand before you continually hearing your wisdom! ⁹ May the Lord your God be blessed, who was pleased to put you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loves Israel forever, he made you king to administer justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰ Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents ^[14] of gold and a great quantity of spices and many precious stones. There was never again anything comparable to the huge amount of spices and incense which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ In addition, Hiram’s fleet brought gold from Ophir and a great quantity of almug ^[15] wood and also precious stones. ¹² The king made the almug wood into steps ^[16] for the Lord’s house and for the house of the king, as well as lyres and harps for his singers. So much fine almug wood has never been brought or seen to this present day.

¹³ King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked for, besides what he had given to her from his royal resources. Then she and her servants returned to her country.