Solomon’s Additional Achievements
After twenty years of building, Solomon gives Hiram twenty towns in Galilee in return for his support, but Hiram is displeased with them and names the region Cabul. The exchange closes with the note of the gold Hiram had sent.
N10ow at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace, 11King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire. 12So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon 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, as they are called to this day. 14And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold.
The account turns to Solomon’s forced labor and his extensive building projects across Jerusalem and key cities, including work tied to Pharaoh’s daughter and Gezer. The labor force falls on surviving non-Israelite peoples, while Israelites serve in military and administrative roles under many supervisors.
15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, 19as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses — whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion. 20As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites) — 21their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction — Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day. 22But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites 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 projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work. 24As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.
Three times a year Solomon offers burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD on the altar he built, and the temple stands complete. His worship is presented as a regular royal practice.
25Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.
Solomon assembles a fleet at Ezion-geber, Hiram supplies experienced sailors, and the ships travel to Ophir and bring back a large quantity of gold. The kingdom’s reach now extends across the sea.
26King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27And Hiram sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants. 28They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there— 420 talents — and delivered it to Solomon.