1Salomon var nu færdig med at bygge Herrens hus og sit eget palads. Han havde fuldført alt, hvad han havde sat sig for at gøre.2-3Da viste Herren sig for ham igen, ligesom han tidligere havde gjort i Gibeon. „Jeg har hørt den bøn, du bad for mit ansigt,” sagde Herren til ham. „Jeg har helliget det hus, du har bygget, for at jeg kunne have et sted at være. Jeg vil altid våge over det og have det i mine tanker.4Og hvad dig angår, hvis du vil adlyde mig med et ærligt og oprigtigt hjerte, som din far gjorde, hvis du vil gøre alt, hvad jeg beder dig om, og overholde mine love og påbud,5så vil jeg lade din slægt beholde tronen til evig tid, sådan som jeg lovede din far, da jeg sagde: ‚Der vil i al fremtid være en af dine efterkommere på Israels trone.’6Men hvis du vender dig bort fra mig, eller dine efterkommere gør det, og hvis I ikke adlyder de befalinger, jeg har givet jer, men begynder at tilbede andre guder,7så vil jeg jage mit folk ud af det land, jeg har givet dem, og jeg vil vende ryggen til mit hus her, som jeg ellers nu har gjort helligt. Da vil Israels folk blive genstand for hån og latterliggørelse blandt alle folkeslag.8Mit hus skal lægges i ruiner, og enhver der går forbi, vil blive slået af forundring og foragteligt spørge: ‚Hvorfor har Herren været så hård mod dette land og dette hus?’9Og svaret skal lyde: ‚Fordi de svigtede Herren, deres Gud, som førte deres forfædre ud af Egypten. De vendte sig til andre guder, som de tilbad og tjente i stedet. Denne ulykke er Herrens straf over dem.’ ”
Salomons byggeprojekter
10I 20 år havde Salomon nok at gøre med de to store byggeprojekter, Herrens hus og sit eget palads.11-12Da de var færdige, forærede han kong Hiram af Tyrus 20 byer i Galilæa-området som betaling for alt det cedertræ, cyprestræ og guld, han havde leveret. Men da Hiram kom for at se på byerne, var han langtfra tilfreds med dem.13„Hvad er det for nogle elendige byer, du har givet mig?” udbrød han. Derefter blev dette område kaldt Kabul,[1] og det hedder det stadig.14Hiram havde blandt andet leveret 4 tons guld til Salomon.15Salomon havde udskrevet tvangsarbejdere til følgende byggeprojekter: Herrens hus, paladset, Jerusalems fæstning og bymur og genopbygningen af byerne Hatzor, Megiddo og Gezer.16Gezer var den by, som Egyptens konge tidligere havde erobret og brændt ned til grunden efter at have dræbt indbyggerne. Da hans datter blev gift med kong Salomon, forærede han hende byen i bryllupsgave.17-18Men nu var Salomon i færd med at genopbygge Gezer—og i øvrigt også byerne Nedre Bet-Horon, Ba’alat og ørkenbyen Tamar.19Desuden byggede han nogle byer omkring de kongelige kornsiloer, og han oprettede vognbyer til sine stridsvogne og alle sine heste og ryttere. Han havde også mange andre projekter i gang i Jerusalem, i Libanons bjerge og flere andre steder i det store rige, han regerede over.20-21Salomon udskrev sine tvangsarbejdere fra de folk, Israel havde besejret—amoritterne, hittitterne, perizzitterne, hivvitterne og jebusitterne. Det var nemlig aldrig lykkedes Israels folk at udrydde disse folkeslag helt—selv længe efter deres erobring af landet—ja, endnu den dag i dag findes der slaver, som nedstammer fra disse folk.22Men han tvang ingen israelitter til slavearbejde. Mange af dem var i kongens tjeneste eller var med i hæren som fodfolk, officerer, vognstyrere eller ryttere.23Andre arbejdede som opsynsmænd for slavearbejderne ved byggeprojekterne. Der var i alt 550 israelitiske opsynsmænd.
Forskellige oplysninger
24Efter at byggeriet var færdigt, flyttede kong Salomon sin kone, der var en egyptisk prinsesse, fra Davidsbyen til det palads, han havde bygget til hende. Derefter byggede han videre på Jerusalems fæstningsanlæg.25På alteret foran templet ofrede Salomon de foreskrevne brændofre og takofre ved de tre store, årlige højtidsfester, og han brændte også røgelse.26Kong Salomon havde et skibsværft i Etzjon-Geber nær Eilat i Edoms land ved Det Røde Hav. Der byggede han en flåde,27og kong Hiram supplerede besætningerne med erfarne søfolk,28som førte skibene til Ofir[2] for at hente guld til kong Salomon. I alt hentede de over 14 tons guld.
1As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, (1.Kong 7,1; 1.Kong 9,19; 2.Krøn 7,11; 2.Krøn 8,1; 2.Krøn 8,6)2the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. (1.Kong 3,5; 1.Kong 11,9)3And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. (5.Mos 11,12; 1.Kong 8,16; 1.Kong 8,29)4And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, (1.Mos 17,1; 1.Kong 11,4; 1.Kong 11,6; 1.Kong 11,38; 1.Kong 14,8; 1.Kong 15,5)5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ (1.Kong 2,4; 1.Kong 6,12; 1.Krøn 22,10)6But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, (2.Sam 7,14; Salm 89,30; Salm 89,32)7then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (5.Mos 4,26; 5.Mos 28,37; 2.Kong 17,23; 2.Kong 25,21; Salm 44,14; Jer 7,14)8And this house will become a heap of ruins.[1] Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ (5.Mos 29,24; Jer 22,8)9Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’” (1.Kong 18,18)
Solomon’s Other Acts
10At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house, (1.Kong 6,37; 1.Kong 7,1; 2.Krøn 8,1)11and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.12But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him.13Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. (Josva 19,27)14Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents[2] of gold.15And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer (Josva 11,1; Josva 17,11; 2.Sam 5,9; 1.Kong 5,13; 1.Kong 9,24)16(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; (Josva 16,10; 1.Kong 3,1; 1.Kong 7,8)17so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and Lower Beth-horon (Josva 10,10)18and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,[3]19and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. (1.Kong 4,26; 1.Kong 9,1; 1.Kong 10,26; 2.Krøn 1,14; 2.Krøn 9,25)20All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel—21their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction[4]—these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. (Josva 15,63; Josva 17,12; Dom 1,21; Dom 1,27; Dom 1,28; Dom 1,29; Dom 3,1; Ez 2,55; Neh 7,57; Neh 11,3)22But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen. (3.Mos 25,39)23These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who had charge of the people who carried on the work. (1.Kong 5,16; 2.Krøn 8,10)24But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo. (2.Sam 5,9; 1.Kong 7,8; 1.Kong 9,15; 1.Kong 9,16; 1.Kong 11,27; 2.Krøn 32,5)25Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it[5] before the Lord. So he finished the house.26King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. (4.Mos 33,35; 5.Mos 2,8; 1.Kong 22,48)27And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. (1.Kong 10,11)28And they went to Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon. (1.Kong 10,11; 1.Kong 22,48; 1.Krøn 29,4; Job 22,24; Job 28,16; Salm 45,9; Es 13,12)