1 Kings 9:10-28

King Hiram's 20 Towns

10 At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord's temple and the royal palace[a]-
11 Hiram king of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish-King Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in the land of Galilee.
12 So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.
13 So he said, "What are these towns you've given me, my brother?" So he called them the Land of Cabul,[b] as they are [still called] today.
14 Now Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds[c] of gold.

Solomon's Forced Labor

15 This is the account of the forced labor[d] that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.[e]
17 Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,
18 Baalath, Tamar[f] in the Wilderness of Judah,
19 all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
20 As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites-
21 their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to annihilate-Solomon imposed forced labor on them; [it is this way] until today.
22 But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.
23 These were the deputies who were over Solomon's work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work.[g]

Solomon's Other Activities

24 Pharaoh's daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her;[h] he then built the terraces.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord's presence. So he completed the temple.[i]
26 King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.
27 With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon's servants.
28 They went to Ophir and acquired gold there-16 tons[j]-and delivered it to Solomon.[k]

1 Kings 9:10-28 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.

Footnotes 11

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.