1 Kings 9:14-28

14 ¹And Hiram sent to the king 120 * talents of gold.

15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon ²levied to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the ³Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, ⁴Hazor, ⁵Megiddo, and ⁶Gezer.

16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the ⁷Canaanites who lived in the city, and had ⁸given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower ⁹Beth-horon

18 and ¹⁰Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, even ¹¹the cities for his chariots and the cities for ¹²his horsemen, and ¹³all that it pleased * Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.

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

21 ¹⁴their descendants who were left after them in the land ¹⁵whom the sons of Israel were unable * to destroy utterly, ¹⁶from them Solomon levied ¹⁷forced laborers *, even to this day.

22 But Solomon ¹⁸did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

23 These were the ¹⁹chief officers who were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, ²⁰who ruled over the people doing the work.

24 As soon as ²¹Pharaoh's daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, ²²then he built the Millo.

25 Now ²³three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD, burning incense with them on the altar which was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon also built a ²⁴fleet of ships in ²⁵Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red * Sea, in the land of Edom.

27 ²⁶And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors * who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.

28 They went to ²⁷Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

1 Kings 9:14-28 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 9

This chapter relates a second vision Solomon had at Gibeon, in which he received an answer to his prayer in the preceding chapter, 1Ki 9:1-9 that passed between him and Hiram king of Tyre, 1Ki 9:10-14, the places that Solomon built or repaired, 1Ki 9:15-19, the Canaanitish people that became bondmen to him, and the officers he had among the children of Israel, 1Ki 9:20-23 the removal of Pharaoh's daughter to the house built for her, 1Ki 9:24. Solomon's attention to religious services, 1Ki 9:25 and the navy of ships he employed, which brought him in great riches, 1Ki 9:26-28.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 9:11
• 2. 1 Kings 5:13
• 3. 2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Kings 9:24
• 4. Joshua 11:1; Joshua 19:36
• 5. Joshua 17:11
• 6. Judges 1:29
• 7. Joshua 16:10
• 8. 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 7:8
• 9. Joshua 10:10; Joshua 16:3; Joshua 21:22; 2 Chronicles 8:5
• 10. Joshua 19:44
• 11. 1 Kings 10:26; 2 Chronicles 1:14
• 12. 1 Kings 4:26
• 13. 1 Kings 9:1
• 14. Judges 1:21-29; Judges 3:1
• 15. Joshua 15:63; Joshua 17:12, 13
• 16. Judges 1:28, 35
• 17. Genesis 9:25, 26; Ezra 2:55, 58
• 18. Leviticus 25:39
• 19. 2 Chronicles 8:10
• 20. 1 Kings 5:16
• 21. 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 7:8
• 22. 2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Kings 9:15; 1 Kings 11:27; 2 Chronicles 32:5
• 23. Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:16
• 24. 1 Kings 22:48
• 25. Numbers 33:35; Deuteronomy 2:8; 1 Kings 22:48
• 26. 1 Kings 5:6, 9; 1 Kings 10:11
• 27. 1 Chronicles 29:4; 2 Chronicles 8:18

Footnotes

• [a]. I.e. citadel
• [b]. Lit "the"
• [c]. Lit "the"
• [d]. Lit "the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem"
• [e]. Lit "of"
• [f]. Or "officers of the deputies"
• [g]. Lit "Sea of Reeds"