1Solomon finished building the LORD’s temple and the royal palace. He had accomplished everything he had planned to do.2The LORD appeared to him a second time. He had already appeared to him at Gibeon.3The LORD said to him, ‘I have heard you pray to me. I have heard you ask me to help you. You have built this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.4‘But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Your heart must be honest. It must be without blame. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws.5Then I will set up your royal throne over Israel for ever. I promised your father David I would do that. I said to him, “You will always have a son from your family line on the throne of Israel.”6‘But suppose all of you turn away from me. Or your children turn away from me. You refuse to obey the commands and rules I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them.7Then I will remove Israel from the land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. Then Israel will be hated by all the nations. They will laugh and joke about Israel.8This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will make fun of it. And they will say, “Why has the LORD done a thing like this to this land and temple?”9People will answer, “Because they have deserted the LORD their God. He brought out of Egypt their people of long ago. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshipping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the LORD has brought all this horrible trouble on them.” ’
Other things Solomon did
10Solomon built the LORD’s temple and the royal palace. It took him 20 years to construct those two buildings.11King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram, the king of Tyre. That’s because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted. He had also provided Solomon with all the gold he wanted.12Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. But he wasn’t pleased with them.13‘My friend’, he asked, ‘what have you given me? What kind of towns are these?’ So he called them the Land of Kabul. And that’s what they are still called to this day.14Hiram had sent 4.5 tonnes of gold to Solomon.15King Solomon forced people to work hard for him. Here is a record of what they did. They built the LORD’s temple and Solomon’s palace. They filled in the low places. They rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. They built up Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.16Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked Gezer and captured it. He had set it on fire. He had killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he had given Gezer as a wedding gift to his daughter. She was Solomon’s wife.17Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He built up Lower Beth Horon18and Baalath. He built up Tadmor in the desert. All those towns were in his land.19He built up all the cities where he could store things. He also built up the towns for his chariots and horses. He built anything he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon and all the territory he ruled over.20There were still many people left in the land who weren’t Israelites. They included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.21They were children of the people who had lived in the land before the Israelites came. Those people had been set apart to the LORD in a special way to be destroyed. But the Israelites hadn’t been able to kill all of them. Solomon forced them to work very hard as his slaves. And they still work for Israel as slaves to this day.22But Solomon didn’t force any of the Israelites to work as his slaves. Instead, some were his fighting men. Others were his government officials, his officers and his captains. Others were commanders of his chariots and chariot drivers.23Still others were the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects. There were 550 officials in charge of those who did the work.24Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David up to the palace Solomon had built for her. After that, he filled in the low places near the palace.25Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. He sacrificed them on the altar he had built to honour the LORD. Along with the offerings, he burned incense to the LORD. So he carried out his duties for the temple.26King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber. It’s near Elath in Edom. It’s on the shore of the Red Sea.27Hiram sent his men to serve on the ships together with Solomon’s men. Hiram’s sailors knew the sea.28All of them sailed to Ophir. They brought back 15 tonnes of gold. They gave it to King Solomon.
1Süleyman RAB'bin Tapınağı'nı, sarayı ve yapmayı istediği bütün işleri bitirince, (2Ch 7:11)2RAB daha önce Givon'da olduğu gibi ona yine görünerek3şöyle dedi: ‹‹Duanı ve yakarışını duydum. Adım sürekli orada bulunsun diye yaptığın bu tapınağı kutsal kıldım. Gözlerim onun üstünde, yüreğim her zaman orada olacaktır.4Sana gelince, baban Davut'un yaptığı gibi, bütün yüreğinle ve doğrulukla yollarımı izler, buyurduğum her şeyi yapar, kurallarıma ve ilkelerime uyarsan,5baban Davut'a, ‹İsrail tahtından senin soyunun ardı arkası kesilmeyecektir› diye verdiğim sözü tutup krallığını sonsuza dek pekiştireceğim.6‹‹Ama siz ya da çocuklarınız yollarımdan sapar, buyruklarıma ve kurallarıma uymaz, gidip başka ilahlara kulluk eder, taparsanız,7size verdiğim bu ülkeden sizi söküp atacağım, adıma kutsal kıldığım bu tapınağı terk edeceğim; İsrail bütün uluslar arasında aşağılanıp alay konusu olacak.8Bu gösterişli tapınağın önünden geçenler, hayret ve dehşet içinde, ‹RAB bu ülkeyi ve tapınağı neden bu duruma getirdi?› diye soracaklar.9Ve, diyecekler ki, ‹İsrail halkı, atalarını Mısır'dan çıkaran Tanrıları RAB'bi terk etti; başka ilahların ardından gitti, onlara tapıp kulluk etti. RAB bu yüzden bütün bu kötülükleri başlarına getirdi.› ››
Süleyman'ın Öbür Etkinlikleri
10Süleyman iki yapıyı -RAB'bin Tapınağı'yla kendi sarayını- yirmi yılda bitirdi. (2Ch 8:1)11Bu yapılar için istediği sedir ve çam ağaçlarıyla altını sağlayan Sur Kralı Hiram'a Celile bölgesinde yirmi kent verdi.12Hiram gidip Süleyman'ın kendisine verdiği kentleri görünce onları beğenmedi.13Süleyman'a, ‹‹Bunlar mı bana verdiğin kentler, kardeşim!›› dedi. Bu yüzden o bölge bugün de ‹‹Kavul[1]›› diye bilinir.14Oysa Hiram, Kral Süleyman'a yüz yirmi talant[2] altın göndermişti.15Kral Süleyman RAB'bin Tapınağı'nı, kendi sarayını, Millo'yu ve Yeruşalim'in surlarını yaptırmak; ayrıca Hasor, Megiddo ve Gezer kentlerini onarıp güçlendirmek amacıyla angaryacıları toplamıştı.16Mısır Firavunu gidip Gezer'i ele geçirmiş ve ateşe vermişti. Orada yaşayan Kenanlılar'ı öldürerek kenti Süleyman'la evlenen kızına armağan etmişti.17Süleyman Gezer'i, Aşağı Beythoron'u,18Baalat'ı ve kırsal bir bölgede bulunan Tamar'la birlikte19bütün ambarlı kentleri, ayrıca savaş arabalarıyla atların bulunduğu kentleri de onarıp güçlendirdi. Böylece Yeruşalim'de, Lübnan'da, yönetimi altındaki bütün topraklarda her istediğini yaptırmış oldu.20İsrail halkından olmayan Amorlular, Hititler, Perizliler, Hivliler ve Yevuslular'dan artakalanlara gelince,21Süleyman İsrail halkının tamamen yok edemediği bu insanların soyundan gelip ülkede kalanları angaryaya koştu. Bu durum bugün de sürüyor.22Ancak Süleyman İsrail halkından hiç kimseye kölelik yaptırmadı. Onlar savaşçı, görevli, komutan, subay, savaş arabalarıyla atlıların komutanı olarak görev yaptılar.23Süleyman'ın yapılan işlerin başında duran ve çalışanları denetleyen beş yüz elli görevlisi vardı.24Firavunun kızı, Davut Kenti'nden Süleyman'ın kendisi için yaptırdığı saraya taşındıktan sonra, Süleyman Millo'yu yaptırdı.25Süleyman RAB için yaptırdığı sunakta yılda üç kez yakmalık sunular ve esenlik sunuları sunardı. Ayrıca RAB'bin önündeki sunağın üstünde buhur da yakardı. Böylece Süleyman tapınağın yapımını tamamlamış oldu.26Kral Süleyman Edomlular'ın ülkesinde, Kızıldeniz kıyısında Eylat yakınlarındaki Esyon-Gever'de gemiler yaptırdı.27Hiram denizi bilen gemicilerini Süleyman'ın adamlarıyla birlikte Ofir'e gönderdi.28Ofir'e giden bu gemiciler, Kral Süleyman'a 420 talant[3] altın getirdiler.