Other Things Solomon Did
(1 Kings 9.10-28)
1 It took twenty years for the Lord’s temple and Solomon’s
palace to be built. 2 After that, Solomon had his workers rebuild
the towns that Hiram had given him. Then Solomon sent Israelites
to live in those towns.
3 Solomon attacked and captured the town
of Hamath-Zobah. 4 He had his workers build the
town of Tadmor in the desert and some towns in Hamath where he
could keep his supplies. 5 He strengthened Upper Beth-Horon and
Lower Beth-Horon by adding walls and gates that could be locked.
6 He did the same thing to the town of Baalath and to the cities
where he kept supplies, chariots, and horses. Solomon had his
workers build whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and anywhere
else in his kingdom.
7 Solomon did not force the Israelites
to do his work. Instead, they were his soldiers, officers, army
commanders, and cavalry troops. But he did make slaves of the
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were
living in Israel. These were the descendants of those foreigners
the Israelites did not destroy, and they remained Israel’s
slaves.
10 Solomon appointed two hundred fifty
officers to be in charge of his workers.
11 Solomon’s wife, the daughter of
the king of Egypt, moved from the part of Jerusalem called David’s
City to her new palace that Solomon had built. The sacred chest
had been kept in David’s City, which made his palace sacred,
and so Solomon’s wife could no longer live there.
12 Solomon offered sacrifices to the Lord
on the altar he had built in front of the temple. 13 He followed
the requirements that Moses had given for sacrifices offered on
the Sabbath, on the first day of each month, the Festival of Thin
Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters.
14 Solomon then assigned the priests and
the Levites their duties at the temple, and he followed the instructions
that his father David had given him. Some of the Levites were
to lead music and help the priests in their duties, and others
were to guard the temple gates 15 and the storage rooms. The priests
and Levites followed these instructions exactly.
16 Everything Solomon had planned to do
was now finished—from the laying of the temple’s foundation
to its completion.
17 Solomon went to Ezion-Geber and Eloth,
two Edomite towns on the Red Sea. 18 Hiram sent him ships and
some of his experienced sailors. They went with Solomon’s
own sailors to the country of Ophir and brought back about seventeen
tons of gold for Solomon.
The Contemporary English Version, Copyright © 1995
by the American Bible Society.
Selected texts provided for use with the Amos: Hypertext Bible Commentary