10At the end of the twenty yearse during which Solomon constructed the two buildings, the LORD’s House and the royal palace—11since 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. 12But 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,f as is still the case. 14However, Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
15This was the purpose of the forced labor which Solomon imposed: It was to build the House of the LORD, his own palace, the Millo,g and the wall of Jerusalem, and [to fortify] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. (16Pharaoh 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.) 17So Solomon fortified Gezer, lower Beth-horon, 18Baalith, and Tamarh in the wilderness, in the land [of Judah], 19and 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. 20All the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were not of the Israelite stock—21those 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. 22But 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.
23These were the prefects that were in charge of Solomon’s works and were foremen over the people engaged in the work, who numbered 550.i
24As 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.g
25Solomon 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 j-he used to offer incense on the one that was before the LORD. And he kept the House in repair.-j
26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Elothk on the shore of the Sea of Reeds in the land of Edom. 27Hiram sent servants of his with the fleet, mariners who were experienced on the sea, to serve with Solomon’s men. 28They came to Ophir; there they obtained gold in the amount of four hundred and twenty talents, which they delivered to King Solomon.
10 The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, a-through the name of the LORD,-a and she came to rest him with hard questions. 2She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels bearing spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she asked him all that she had in mind. 3Solomon had answers for all her questions; there was nothing that the king did not know, [nothing] to which he could not give her an answer. 4When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon’s wisdom, and the palace he had built, 5the fare of his table, the seating of his courtiers, the service and attire of his attendants, and his wine service, b-and the burnt offerings that he offered at-b the House of the LORD, she was left breathless.
6She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own land about you and your wisdom was true. 7But I did not believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes that not even the half had been told me; your wisdom and wealth surpass the reports that I heard. 8How fortunate are your men and how fortunate are these your courtiers, who are always in attendance on you and can hear your wisdom! 9Praised be the LORD your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel. It is because of the LORD’s everlasting love for Israel that He made you king to administer justice and righteousness.”
10She presented the king with one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a vast quantity of spices arrive as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.—11Moreover, Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a huge quantity of almug woodc and precious stones. 12The king used the almug wood for decorations in the House of the LORD and in the royal palace, and for harps and lyres for the musicians. Such a quantity of almug wood has never arrived or been seen to this day.—13King Solomon, in turn, gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and asked for, in addition to what King Solomon gave her out of his royal bounty. Then she and her attendants left and returned to her own land.
14The weight of the gold which Solomon received every year was 666 talents of gold, 15besides what came from tradesmen, from the traffic of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the regions. 16King Solomon made 200 shields of beaten gold—600 shekels of gold to each shield—17and 300 bucklers of beaten gold—three minas of gold to each buckler. The king placed them in the Lebanon Forest House.
18The king also made a large throne of ivory, and he overlaid it with refined gold. 19Six steps led up to the throne, and the throne had a back with a rounded top, and arms on either side of the seat. Two lions stood beside the arms, 20and twelve lions stood on the six steps, six on either side. No such throne was ever made for any other kingdom.d
21All King Solomon’s drinking cups were of gold, and all the utensils of the Lebanon Forest House were of pure gold: silver did not count for anything in Solomon’s days. 22For the king had a Tarshishe fleet on the sea, along with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years, the Tarshish fleet came in, bearing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23King Solomon excelled all the kings on earth in wealth and in wisdom. 24All the world came to pay homage to Solomon and to listen to the wisdom with which God had endowed him; 25and each one would bring his tribute—silver and gold objects, robes, weapons and spices, horses and mules—in the amount due each year.
26Solomon assembled chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationedf in the chariot towns and with the king in Jerusalem. 27The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the Shephelah. 28Solomon’s horses were procured from Mizraimg and Kue. The king’s dealers would buy them from Kue at a fixed price. 29A chariot imported from Mizraimg cost 600 shekels of silver, and a horse 150; these in turn were exported by themh to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Arameans.
11 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Phoenician, and Hittite women, 2from the nations of which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “None of you shall join them and none of them shall join you,a lest they turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Such Solomon clung to and loved. 3He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. 4In his old age, his wives turned away Solomon’s heart after other gods, and he was not as wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God as his father David had been. 5Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
6Solomon did what was displeasing to the LORD and did not remain loyal to the LORD like his father David. 7At that time, Solomon built a shrine for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill near Jerusalem, and one for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. 8And he did the same for all his foreign wives who offered and sacrificed to their gods.
9The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10and had commanded him about this matter, not to follow other gods; he did not obey what the LORD had commanded. 11And the LORD said to Solomon, b-“Because you are guilty of this-b—you have not kept My covenant and the laws which I enjoined upon you—I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12But, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it away from your son. 13However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give your son one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
14So the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, the Edomite Hadad, who was of the royal family of Edom. 15When David c-was in-c
