耶和華再次向所羅門顯現
1所羅門建完耶和華的殿、自己的王宮和所有要建的建築後， 2耶和華像在基遍一樣再次向他顯現， 3對他說：「我聽了你的禱告和祈求。我已使你建的殿成為聖潔之地，讓我的名永在其中，我會一直眷顧這殿。 4如果你像你父親大衛一樣存誠實正直的心事奉我，遵行我的一切吩咐，謹守我的律例和典章， 5我必使你的王位在以色列永遠穩固，正如我曾向你父親大衛應許要使他的王朝永不中斷。
6「然而，如果你們及你們的子孫離棄我，不守我的誡命和律例，去供奉、祭拜別的神明， 7我必把以色列人從我賜給他們的土地上剷除，並離棄我為自己的名而使之聖潔的這殿，使以色列人在萬民中成為笑柄，被人嘲諷。 8這殿雖然宏偉，但將來經過的人必驚訝，譏笑說，『耶和華為什麼這樣對待這地方和這殿呢？』 9人們會回答，『因為他們背棄曾領他們祖先離開埃及的耶和華——他們的上帝，去追隨、祭拜、供奉別的神明，所以耶和華把這一切災禍降在他們身上。』」
所羅門的事蹟
10所羅門用二十年的時間興建了耶和華的殿和自己的王宮。 11泰爾王希蘭供應了所羅門所需要的一切香柏木、松木和黃金，所羅門王就把加利利一帶的二十座城送給他。 12希蘭從泰爾去視察這些城，然後滿心不悅地對所羅門說： 13「兄弟啊，你送給我的是什麼城邑呀？」因此，他稱這個地區為迦步勒9·13 「迦步勒」希伯來文的意思為「沒有價值」。，沿用至今。 14希蘭供應了所羅門王約四噸金子。
15所羅門徵召勞役興建耶和華的殿、自己的王宮、米羅堡和耶路撒冷的城牆以及夏瑣、米吉多和基色。 16從前埃及王法老攻陷基色，火燒全城，殺了城內的迦南人，把基色賜予女兒，即所羅門之妻作嫁妝。 17所羅門現在重建基色、下伯·和崙、 18巴拉和境內沙漠地區的達莫。 19他還建造了所有的儲貨城、屯車城、養馬城和計劃在耶路撒冷、黎巴嫩及全國興建的城邑。
20當時國中有亞摩利人、赫人、比利洗人、希未人和耶布斯人的後裔， 21以色列人沒能滅絕這些外族人，所羅門讓他們服勞役，至今如此。 22所羅門王沒有讓以色列人服勞役，而是讓他們做戰士、官長、統帥、將領、戰車長和騎兵長。 23他還任命五百五十名監工負責監管工人。
24法老的女兒從大衛城遷到為她建造的宮殿以後，所羅門動工興建米羅堡。 25耶和華的殿落成以後，所羅門每年三次在他為耶和華築的壇上獻燔祭、平安祭並在耶和華面前燒香。
26所羅門王在以東境內的紅海邊、靠近以祿的以旬·迦別製造船隻。 27希蘭派有經驗的水手與所羅門的水手一起出海， 28從俄斐為所羅門王運回了十四噸黃金。
The Lord Appears to Solomon
1Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He had accomplished everything he had planned to do. 2The Lord appeared to him a second time. He had already appeared to him at Gibeon. 3The Lord said to him,
“I have heard you pray to me. I have heard you ask me to help you. You have built this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4“But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Your heart must be honest. It must be without blame. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws. 5Then I will set up your royal throne over Israel forever. I promised your father David I would do that. I said to him, ‘You will always have a son from your family line on the throne of Israel.’
6“But suppose all of you turn away from me. Or your children turn away from me. You refuse to obey the commands and rules I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them. 7Then I will remove Israel from the land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. Then Israel will be hated by all the nations. They will laugh and joke about Israel. 8This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will make fun of it. And they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done a thing like this to this land and temple?’ 9People will answer, ‘Because they have deserted the Lord their God. He brought out of Egypt their people of long ago. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshiping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the Lord has brought all this horrible trouble on them.’ ”
Other Things Solomon Did
10Solomon built the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. It took him 20 years to construct those two buildings. 11King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram, the king of Tyre. That’s because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted. He had also provided Solomon with all the gold he wanted. 12Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. But he wasn’t pleased with them. 13“My friend,” he asked, “what have you given me? What kind of towns are these?” So he called them the Land of Kabul. And that’s what they are still called to this day. 14Hiram had sent four and a half tons of gold to Solomon.
15King Solomon forced people to work hard for him. Here is a record of what they did. They built the Lord’s temple and Solomon’s palace. They filled in the low places. They rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. They built up Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked Gezer and captured it. He had set it on fire. He had killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he had given Gezer as a wedding gift to his daughter. She was Solomon’s wife. 17Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He built up Lower Beth Horon 18and Baalath. He built up Tadmor in the desert. All those towns were in his land. 19He built up all the cities where he could store things. He also built up the towns for his chariots and horses. He built anything he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon and all the territory he ruled over.
20There were still many people left in the land who weren’t Israelites. They included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 21They were children of the people who had lived in the land before the Israelites came. Those people had been set apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. But the Israelites hadn’t been able to kill all of them. Solomon forced them to work very hard as his slaves. And they still work for Israel as slaves to this day. 22But Solomon didn’t force any of the Israelites to work as his slaves. Instead, some were his fighting men. Others were his government officials, his officers and his captains. Others were commanders of his chariots and chariot drivers. 23Still others were the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects. There were 550 officials in charge of those who did the work.
24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David up to the palace Solomon had built for her. After that, he filled in the low places near the palace.
25Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. He sacrificed them on the altar he had built to honor the Lord. Along with the offerings, he burned incense to the Lord. So he carried out his duties for the temple.
26King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. It’s near Elath in Edom. It’s on the shore of the Red Sea. 27Hiram sent his men to serve on the ships together with Solomon’s men. Hiram’s sailors knew the sea. 28All of them sailed to Ophir. They brought back 16 tons of gold. They gave it to King Solomon.
