Solomon Cedes Cities to Hiram

¹⁰ It took 20 years for Solomon to finish working on the two houses—the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace— ¹¹ after which King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee, because King Hiram of Tyre had provided Solomon with as much cedar, cypress timber, and gold as he wanted. ¹² Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but he wasn’t happy with them, ¹³ so he asked him, “What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?” That’s why these cities were named “the land of Cabal”^[a] to this day. ¹⁴ Then Hiram paid the king 120 talents^[b] of gold.

Solomon’s Other Accomplishments^(A)

¹⁵ Here is a summary of the conscripted labor that King Solomon required to build the Lord’s Temple, his royal palace, the terrace ramparts in the City of David,^[c] the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and then gave it as a dowry for his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, ¹⁹ along with the storage cities that Solomon used for his chariots and for his cavalry, everything that Solomon felt like building in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in every territory under his control.

²⁰ The people who survived from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not related to the Israelis, ²¹ and whose descendants had survived them and continued to live in the land because the Israelis were unable to completely eliminate them, Solomon placed under conscripted labor, a situation that remains in effect to this day. ²² However, Solomon did not force Israelis into conscripted labor, but they did serve as his soldiers, servants, princes, captains, chariot commanders, and cavalry. ²³ There were 550 chief officers who supervised Solomon’s activities and managed the staff that was doing the work.

²⁴ As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter arrived from the City of David to live in her house that Solomon^[d] had built for her, then he fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David.^{[e] 25} Three times every year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built to the Lord, burning incense with the offerings in the presence of the Lord.

This concludes the record of the Temple construction.

Solomon’s Business Ventures^(B)

²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Reed^[f] Sea in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent his servants to sail with the fleet, since they were expert seamen, and so they accompanied Solomon’s servants. ²⁸ They sailed as far as Ophir^[g] and brought back 420 talents^[h] of gold for Solomon.