Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build,
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It happened, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Yahweh, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,
2 the Lord appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon.
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that Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 The Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time.
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Yahweh said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
4 If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you,
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As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;
5 I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants.
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then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.
6 But if you or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods,
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But if you shall turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
7 then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt.
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then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8 This Temple will become a pile of ruins, and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. "Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?' they will ask.
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Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?
9 People will answer, "It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.' "
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and they shall answer, Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore has Yahweh brought all this evil on them.
10 It took Solomon twenty years to build the Temple and his palace.
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It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king's house
11 King Hiram of Tyre had provided him with all the cedar and pine and with all the gold he wanted for this work. After it was finished, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee.
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(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 Hiram went to see them, and he did not like them.
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Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn't please him.
13 So he said to Solomon, "So these, my brother, are the towns you have given me!" For this reason the area is still called Cabul.
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He said, What cities are these which you have given me, my brother? He called them the land of Cabul to this day.
14 Hiram had sent Solomon almost five tons of gold.
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Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
15 King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer
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This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Yahweh, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 (The king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it, killing its inhabitants and setting fire to the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon,
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Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
17 and Solomon rebuilt it.) Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon,
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Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the lower,
18 Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness of Judah,
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and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land,
19 the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom.
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and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 For his forced labor Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, whose descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time.
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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 children of Israel;
22 Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites; they served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and cavalry.
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But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
23 There were 550 officials in charge of the forced labor working on Solomon's various building projects.
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These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work, five hundred fifty, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.
24 Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her.
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But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which [Solomon] had built for her: then did he build Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished building the Temple.
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Three times a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace-offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh, burning incense therewith, [on the altar] that was before Yahweh. So he finished the house.
26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom.
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King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
27 King Hiram sent some experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men.
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Hiram sent in the navy his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
28 They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold.
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They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.