GOD said to him, “I have heard the prayer and the supplication that you have offered to Me. I consecrate this House that you have built and I set My name there forever. My eyes and My heart shall ever be there.
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,
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.’bYour line on the throne of Israel shall never end See note at 2.4.
[But] if you and your descendants turn away from Me and do not keep the commandments [and] the laws that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
then I will sweepcsweep Lit. “cut.” Israel off the land that I gave them; I will rejectdreject Lit. “dismiss from My presence.” the House that I have consecrated to My name; and Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
And as for this House, once so exalted,eas for this House, once so exalted Targum and some other ancient versions read “and this House shall become a ruin.” everyone passing by it shall be appalled and shall hiss.fhiss An action performed at the sight of ruin to ward off a like fate from the observer; cf. note at Jer. 18.16. And when they ask, ‘Why did GOD do thus to the land and to this House?’
they shall be told, ‘It is because they forsook the ETERNAL their God who freed them from the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore GOD has brought all this calamity upon them.’”
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.
Word-by-Word Analysis
חירם
258
מלךצר
380
נשא
351
אתשלמה
776
בעצי
172
ארזים
258
ובעצי
178
ברושים
558
ובזהב
22
לכלחפצו
264
אז
8
יתן
460
המלך
95
שלמה
375
לחירם
288
עשרים
620
עיר
280
בארץ
293
הגליל
78
I Kings 9:12
Gematria: 4171
ויצאחירםמצרלראותאתהעריםאשרנתןלושלמהולאישרובעיניו
But when Hiram came from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.
“My brother,” he said, “what sort of towns are these you have given me?” So they were named the land of Cabul,hCabul Perhaps taken to mean “as nothing.” as is still the case.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויאמר
257
מה
45
הערים
325
האלה
41
אשרנתתה
1356
לי
40
אחי
19
ויקרא
317
להם
75
ארץ
291
כבול
58
עד
74
היום
61
הזהפ
97
I Kings 9:14
Gematria: 1658
וישלחחירםלמלךמאהועשריםככרזהב
However, Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
This was the purpose of the forced labor that Solomon imposed: It was to build the House of GOD, his own palace, the Millo,iMillo A citadel. and the wall of Jerusalem, and [to fortify] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
(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.)
Word-by-Word Analysis
פרעה
355
מלךמצרים
470
עלה
105
וילכד
70
אתגזר
611
וישרפה
601
באש
303
ואתהכנעני
612
הישב
317
בעיר
282
הרג
208
ויתנה
471
שלחים
388
לבתו
438
אשת
701
שלמה
375
I Kings 9:17
Gematria: 2995
ויבןשלמהאתגזרואתביתחרןתחתון
So Solomon fortified Gezer, lower Beth-horon,
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויבן
68
שלמה
375
אתגזר
611
ואתבית
819
חרן
258
תחתון
864
I Kings 9:18
Gematria: 3141
ואתבעלתואתתדמרתמרבמדברבארץ
Baalith, and TamarjTamar So kethib, cf. Ezek. 47.19; 48.28; qere Tadmor. in the wilderness, in the land [of Judah],
and all of Solomon’s garrison towns, chariot towns, and towns for his riderskriders Or “horses”; see note at 1.5.—everything that Solomon set his heart on building in Jerusalem and in the Lebanon, and throughout the territory that he ruled.
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.
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 chariots and riders.
These were the prefectslThese were the prefects Their names are not listed in the text. that were in charge of Solomon’s works and were supervising the people engaged in the work, who numbered 550.
Word-by-Word Analysis
אלה
36
שרי
510
הנצבים
197
אשר
501
עלהמלאכה
201
לשלמה
405
חמשים
398
וחמש
354
מאות
447
הרדים
259
בעם
112
העשים
425
במלאכה
98
I Kings 9:24
Gematria: 3206
אךבתפרעהעלתהמעירדודאלביתהאשרבנהלהאזבנהאתהמלוא
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.mMillo A citadel.
Solomon used to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being three times a year on the altar that he had built for GOD, and he used to offer incense on the one that was before GOD. And he kept the House in repair.nhe used to offer incense … kept the House in repair Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near ElothoEloth Elsewhere called Elath. on the shore of the Sea of Reeds in the land of Edom.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ואני
67
עשה
375
המלך
95
שלמה
375
בעציוןגבר
433
אשר
501
אתאלות
838
עלשפת
880
יםסוף
196
בארץ
293
אדום
51
I Kings 9:27
Gematria: 2716
וישלחחירםבאניאתעבדיואנשיאניותידעיהיםעםעבדישלמה
Hiram sent servants of his with the fleet, mariners who were experienced on the sea, to serve with Solomon’s men.