New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king's house and all that Solomon desired to build,
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Now when Solomon came to the end of building the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all Solomon's desires, which he had in mind were effected;
2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
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The Lord came to him again in a vision, as he had done at Gibeon;
3 The Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
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And the Lord said to him, Your prayers and your requests for grace have come to my ears: I have made holy this house which you have made, and I have put my name there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.
4 As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,
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As for you, if you will go on your way before me, as David your father did, uprightly and with a true heart, doing what I have given you orders to do, keeping my laws and my decisions;
5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, "There shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.'
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Then I will make the seat of your rule over Israel certain for ever, as I gave my word to David your father, saying, You will never be without a man to be king in Israel.
6 "If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
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But if you are turned from my ways, you or your children, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods and give them worship:
7 then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them; and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples.
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Then I will have Israel cut off from the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for myself, I will put away from before my eyes; and Israel will be a public example, and a word of shame among all peoples.
8 This house will become a heap of ruins; everyone passing by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say, "Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?'
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And this house will become a mass of broken walls, and everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder at it and make whistling sounds; and they will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land and to this house?
9 Then they will say, "Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the Lord has brought this disaster upon them.' "
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And their answer will be, Because they were turned away from the Lord their God, who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt; they took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why the Lord has sent all this evil on them.
10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house,
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Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house,
11 King Hiram of Tyre having supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
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(Hiram, king of Tyre, had given Solomon cedar-trees and cypress-trees and gold, as much as he had need of,) King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee.
12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him.
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But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns which Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.
13 Therefore he said, "What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?" So they are called the land of Cabul to this day.
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And he said, What sort of towns are these which you have given me, my brother? So they were named the land of Cabul, to this day.
14 But Hiram had sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
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And Hiram sent the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.
15 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer
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Now, this was the way of Solomon's system of forced work for the building of the Lord's house and of the king's house, and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Megiddo and Gezer. ...
16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it down, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife;
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Pharaoh, king of Egypt, came and took Gezer, burning it down and putting to death the Canaanites living in the town, and he gave it for a bride-offering to his daughter, Solomon's wife. ...
17 so Solomon rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon,
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... and Solomon was the builder of Gezer and Beth-horon the lower,
18 Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, within the land,
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And Baalath and Tamar in the waste land, in that land;
19 as well as all of Solomon's storage cities, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build, in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
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And all the store-towns and the towns which Solomon had for his war-carriages and for his horsemen, and everything which it was his pleasure to put up in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land under his rule.
20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel—
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As for the rest of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not children of Israel;
21 their descendants who were still left in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely—these Solomon conscripted for slave labor, and so they are to this day.
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Their children who were still in the land, and whom the children of Israel had not been able to put to complete destruction, them did Solomon put to forced work, to this day.
22 But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves; they were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariotry and cavalry.
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But Solomon did not put the children of Israel to forced work; they were the men of war, his servants, his captains, and his chiefs, captains of his war-carriages and of his horsemen.
23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work: five hundred fifty, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.
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These were the chiefs of the overseers of Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, in authority over the people who did the work.
24 But Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.
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At that time Solomon made Pharaoh's daughter come up from the town of David to the house which he had made for her: then he made the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being on the altar that he built for the Lord, offering incense before the Lord. So he completed the house.
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Three times in the year it was Solomon's way to give burned offerings and peace-offerings on the altar he had made to the Lord, causing his fire-offering to go up on the altar before the Lord.
26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
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And King Solomon made a sea-force of ships in Ezion-geber, by Eloth, on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
27 Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon.
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Hiram sent his servants, who were experienced seamen, in the sea-force with Solomon's men.
28 They went to Ophir, and imported from there four hundred twenty talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.
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And they came to Ophir, where they got four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and took it back to King Solomon.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.