The LORD’s Response to Solomon
(2 Chronicles 7:11–22)

1Now when Solomon (peace) had finished building the house of the LORD {YHWH} and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do, 2the LORD {YHWH} appeared to him (peace) a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon (hill city). 3And the LORD {YHWH} said to him:

“I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

4And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David (beloved) walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, 5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever (he wrestles with God), as I promised your father David (beloved) when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

6But if indeed you⁺ or your⁺ sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you⁺, and if you⁺ go off to serve and worship other gods, 7then I will cut off Israel (he wrestles with God) from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.

8And when this temple has become a heap of rubble [And though this temple is now exalted],a all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD {YHWH} done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God {YHWH Elohehem} who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage), and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’”

Solomon’s Additional Achievements
(2 Chronicles 8:1–18)

10Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon (peace) built these two houses, the house of the LORD {YHWH} and the royal palace, 11King Solomon (peace) gave (noble) twenty towns in the land of Galilee (circuit) to Hiram king of Tyre (a rock), who had supplied him with cedar and cypress (pine)b logs and gold for his every desire. 12So Hiram (noble) went out from Tyre (a rock) to inspect the towns that Solomon (peace) had given him, but he was not pleased with them.

13“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul (good-for-nothing),c as they are called to this day.

14And Hiram (noble) had sent the king 120 talents of gold <4.52 t / 4.1 mt>.d

15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon (peace) imposed to build the house of the LORD {YHWH}, his own palace, the supporting terraces \the Millo/,e and the wall of Jerusalem (city of peace), as well as Hazor (castle), Megiddo (place of crowds), and Gezer (portion).

16Pharaoh (great house) king of Egypt (land of bondage) had attacked and captured Gezer (portion). He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites (merchants) who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s (peace) wife. 17So Solomon (peace) rebuilt Gezer (portion), Lower Beth-horon (house of hollowness), 18Baalath (mistress), and Tamar [Tadmor]f in the Wilderness of Judah \in the wilderness in the land/,g 19as well as all the store cities that Solomon (peace) had for his chariots and horses (horsemen)h —whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem (city of peace), Lebanon (whiteness), and throughout the land of his dominion.

20As for all the people who remained of the Amorites (sayers), Hittites, Perizzites (villagers), Hivites, and Jebusites (Jerusalemites) (the people who were not Israelites (God prevails))— 21their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites (God prevails) were unable to devote to destruction {cherem}i—Solomon (peace) conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

22But Solomon (peace) did not consign any of the Israelites (God prevails) to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. 23They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s (peace) projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.

24As soon as Pharaoh’s (great house) daughter had come up from the City of David (beloved) to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces (rampart / mound).

25Three times a year Solomon (peace) offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD {YHWH}, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.

26King Solomon (peace) also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber (backbone), which is near Eloth (Elath)j in Edom (red), on the shore of the Red Sea (the Sea of Reeds).k 27And Hiram (noble) sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s (peace) servants. 28They sailed to Ophir (reducing to ashes) and imported gold from there—420 talents <15.8 t / 14.4 mt>l—and delivered it to Solomon (peace).