1 Kings 9:1-13 ▼

1 Now 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,

2 the LORD {YHWH} appeared to him (peace) a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon (hill city).

3 And 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.

4 And 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,

5 then 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.’

6 But 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,

7 then 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.

8 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble [And though this temple is now exalted], 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?’

9 And 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.’”

10 Now 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,

11 King 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) logs and gold for his every desire.

12 So 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), as they are called to this day.