(5) At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask, what shall I grant you?” (6) Solomon said, “You dealt most graciously with Your servant my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness and righteousness and in integrity of heart. You have continued this great kindness to him by giving him a son to occupy his throne, as is now the case. (7) And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David; but I am a young lad, with no experience in leadership. (8) Your servant finds himself in the midst of the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted. (9) Grant, then, Your servant an understanding mind to judge Your people, to distinguish between good and bad; for who can judge this vast people of Yours?” (10) The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. (11) And God said to him, “Because you asked for this—you did not ask for long life, you did not ask for riches, you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you asked for discernment in dispensing justice— (12) I now do as you have spoken. I grant you a wise and discerning mind; there has never been anyone like you before, nor will anyone like you arise again. (13) And I also grant you what you did not ask for—both riches and glory all your life—the like of which no king has ever had. (14) And I will further grant you long life, if you will walk in My ways and observe My laws and commandments, as did your father David.” (15) Then Solomon awoke: it was a dream! He went to Jerusalem, stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented offerings of well-being; and he made a banquet for all his courtiers.
(1) When Solomon had finished building the House of the LORD and the royal palace and everything that Solomon had set his heart on constructing, (2) the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. (3) The LORD said to him, “I have heard the prayer and the supplication which you have offered to Me. I consecrate this House which you have built and I set My name there forever. My eyes and My heart shall ever be there. (4) As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked before Me, wholeheartedly and with uprightness, doing all that I have commanded you [and] keeping My laws and My rules, (5) then I will establish your throne of kingship over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘Your line on the throne of Israel shall never end.’ (6) [But] if you and your descendants turn away from Me and do not keep the commandments [and] the laws which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, (7) then I will sweep Israel off the land which I gave them; I will reject the House which I have consecrated to My name; and Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (8) And as for this House, once so exalted, everyone passing by it shall be appalled and shall hiss. And when they ask, ‘Why did the LORD do thus to the land and to this House?’ (9) they shall be told, ‘It is because they forsook the LORD their God who freed them from the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity upon them.’”
(15) King Hiram of Tyre sent his officials to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in place of his father; for Hiram had always been a friend of David. (16) Solomon sent this message to Hiram: (17) “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the enemies that encompassed him, until the LORD had placed them under the soles of his feet. (18) But now the LORD my God has given me respite all around; there is no adversary and no mischance. (19) And so I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD promised my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for My name.’ (20) Please, then, give orders for cedars to be cut for me in the Lebanon. My servants will work with yours, and I will pay you any wages you may ask for your servants; for as you know, there is none among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” (21) When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was overjoyed. “Praised be the LORD this day,” he said, “for granting David a wise son to govern this great people.” (22) So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have your message; I will supply all the cedar and cypress logs you require. (23) My servants will bring them down to the sea from the Lebanon; and at the sea I will make them into floats and [deliver them] to any place that you designate to me. There I shall break them up for you to carry away. You, in turn, will supply the food I require for my household.” (24) So Hiram kept Solomon provided with all the cedar and cypress wood he required, (25) and Solomon delivered to Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as provisions for his household and 20 kors of beaten oil. Such was Solomon’s annual payment to Hiram. (26) The LORD had given Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was friendship between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
(10) At the end of the twenty years during which Solomon constructed the two buildings, the LORD’s House and the royal palace— (11) since King Hiram of Tyre had supplied Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber and gold that he required—King Solomon in turn gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. (12) But when Hiram came from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. (13) “My brother,” he said, “what sort of towns are these you have given me?” So they were named the land of Cabul, as is still the case. (14) However, Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
(27) King Solomon imposed forced labor on all Israel; the levy came to 30,000 men. (28) He sent them to the Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 a month: they would spend one month in the Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. (29) Solomon also had 70,000 porters and 80,000 quarriers in the hills, (30) apart from Solomon’s 3,300 officials who were in charge of the work and supervised the gangs doing the work.
(טו) וְזֶ֨ה דְבַר־הַמַּ֜ס אֲשֶֽׁר־הֶעֱלָ֣ה ׀ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹ֗ה לִבְנוֹת֩ אֶת־בֵּ֨ית ה' וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ וְאֶת־הַמִּלּ֔וֹא וְאֵ֖ת חוֹמַ֣ת יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם וְאֶת־חָצֹ֥ר וְאֶת־מְגִדּ֖וֹ וְאֶת־גָּֽזֶר׃ (טז) פַּרְעֹ֨ה מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרַ֜יִם עָלָ֗ה וַיִּלְכֹּ֤ד אֶת־גֶּ֙זֶר֙ וַיִּשְׂרְפָ֣הּ בָּאֵ֔שׁ וְאֶת־הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֛י הַיֹּשֵׁ֥ב בָּעִ֖יר הָרָ֑ג וַֽיִּתְּנָהּ֙ שִׁלֻּחִ֔ים לְבִתּ֖וֹ אֵ֥שֶׁת שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃ (יז) וַיִּ֤בֶן שְׁלֹמֹה֙ אֶת־גָּ֔זֶר וְאֶת־בֵּ֥ית חֹרֹ֖ן תַּחְתּֽוֹן׃ (יח) וְאֶֽת־בַּעֲלָ֛ת וְאֶת־תמר [תַּדְמֹ֥ר] בַּמִּדְבָּ֖ר בָּאָֽרֶץ׃ (יט) וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־עָרֵ֤י הַֽמִּסְכְּנוֹת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָי֣וּ לִשְׁלֹמֹ֔ה וְאֵת֙ עָרֵ֣י הָרֶ֔כֶב וְאֵ֖ת עָרֵ֣י הַפָּרָשִׁ֑ים וְאֵ֣ת ׀ חֵ֣שֶׁק שְׁלֹמֹ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר חָשַׁק֙ לִבְנ֤וֹת בִּירוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ וּבַלְּבָנ֔וֹן וּבְכֹ֖ל אֶ֥רֶץ מֶמְשַׁלְתּֽוֹ׃ (כ) כָּל־הָ֠עָם הַנּוֹתָ֨ר מִן־הָאֱמֹרִ֜י הַחִתִּ֤י הַפְּרִזִּי֙ הַחִוִּ֣י וְהַיְבוּסִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹֽא־מִבְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הֵֽמָּה׃ (כא) בְּנֵיהֶ֗ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר נֹתְר֤וּ אַחֲרֵיהֶם֙ בָּאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־יָכְל֛וּ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְהַֽחֲרִימָ֑ם וַיַּעֲלֵ֤ם שְׁלֹמֹה֙ לְמַס־עֹבֵ֔ד עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃ (כב) וּמִבְּנֵי֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹֽא־נָתַ֥ן שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה עָ֑בֶד כִּי־הֵ֞ם אַנְשֵׁ֣י הַמִּלְחָמָ֗ה וַעֲבָדָיו֙ וְשָׂרָ֣יו וְשָׁלִשָׁ֔יו וְשָׂרֵ֥י רִכְבּ֖וֹ וּפָרָשָֽׁיו׃ (ס)
(15) This was the purpose of the forced labor which Solomon imposed: It was to build the House of the LORD, his own palace, the Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and [to fortify] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ( (16) Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer; he destroyed it by fire, killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the town, and gave it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) (17) So Solomon fortified Gezer, lower Beth-horon, (18) Baalith, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land [of Judah], (19) and all of Solomon’s garrison towns, chariot towns, and cavalry towns—everything that Solomon set his heart on building in Jerusalem and in the Lebanon, and throughout the territory that he ruled. (20) All the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were not of the Israelite stock— (21) those of their descendants who remained in the land and whom the Israelites were not able to annihilate—of these Solomon made a slave force, as is still the case. (22) But he did not reduce any Israelites to slavery; they served, rather, as warriors and as his attendants, officials, and officers, and as commanders of his chariotry and cavalry.
(11) So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
(1) Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David [to live there] until he had finished building his palace, and the House of the LORD, and the walls around Jerusalem. (2) The people, however, continued to offer sacrifices at the open shrines, because up to that time no house had been built for the name of the LORD. (3) And Solomon, though he loved the LORD and followed the practices of his father David, also sacrificed and offered at the shrines. (4) The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the largest shrine; on that altar Solomon presented a thousand burnt offerings.
(24) As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to the palace that he had built for her, he built the Millo. (25) Solomon used to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being three times a year on the altar that he had built for the LORD, and he used to offer incense on the one that was before the LORD. And he kept the House in repair. (26) King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Sea of Reeds in the land of Edom. (27) Hiram sent servants of his with the fleet, mariners who were experienced on the sea, to serve with Solomon’s men. (28) They came to Ophir; there they obtained gold in the amount of four hundred and twenty talents, which they delivered to King Solomon.