1 Kings 9:12-22

12 And Hiram went out of Tyre that he should see the cities, which Solomon had given to him, and those pleased not him; (And Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given to him, and they did not please him;)
13 and he said, Whether these be the cities, which thou, brother, hast given to me? And he called those cities the land of Cabul, that is, displeasing (that is, The Displeasing Land), unto this day.
14 Also Hiram (had) sent to king Solomon sixscore talents of gold.
15 This is the rent, which Solomon raised, to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, (and the) Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 (For) Pharaoh, king of Egypt, (had) ascended, and took Gezer, and burnt it by fire; and he killed (the) Canaanites, that dwelled in the city, and gave it into (a) dower to his daughter, the wife of Solomon. (For Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up, and took Gezer, and burned it down; and he killed the Canaanites, who lived in that city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.)
17 Therefore Solomon builded Gezer (And so Solomon rebuilt Gezer), and the lower Bethhoron,
18 and Baalath, and Tadmor in the land of (the) wilderness;
19 and he made strong all the towns, that pertained to him, and were without (a) wall, and the cities of chariots, and the cities of knights, and whatever thing (it) pleased him to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his power.
20 (And) Solomon made tributaries unto this day (of) all the people, that (were) left of the Amorites, Hittites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, which be not of the sons of Israel,
21 the sons of these heathen men, that dwelled in the land, that is, which the sons of Israel might not destroy. (the sons of these heathen, who continued to live in the land, that is, they whom the Israelites did not destroy.)
22 Soothly king Solomon ordained not any man of the sons of Israel to serve, that is, in vile works, and of the fields, but they were men of war, and servants of him, and princes, and dukes, and masters of his chariots and horses. (And King Solomon did not let any man of the Israelites serve in slavery, or in the fields, but they all were warriors, and his servants, and the leaders, and the masters, of his chariots and of his horsemen.)

1 Kings 9:12-22 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.