וַיְהִי כְּכַלּוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה לִבְנוֹת אֶת־בֵּית־ה' וְאֶת־בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֵת כָּל־חֵשֶׁק שְׁלֹמֹה אֲשֶׁר חָפֵץ לַעֲשׂוֹת

It was when Solomon finished building the House of the Lord and the house of the king, which was similar in size to the House of the Lord, and all of Solomon’s desires that he wished to do, the numerous construction plans that he implemented for the glory of his kingdom,

וַיֵּרָא ה' אֶל־שְׁלֹמֹה שֵׁנִית כַּאֲשֶׁר נִרְאָה אֵלָיו בְּגִבְעוֹן

that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Givon. Solomon was a quasi-prophet (see 11:9).

וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֵלָיו שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶת־תְּפִלָּתְךָ וְאֶת־תְּחִנָּתְךָ אֲשֶׁר הִתְחַנַּנְתָּה לְפָנַי הִקְדַּשְׁתִּי אֶת־הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר בָּנִתָה לָשׂוּם שְׁמִי שָׁם עַד־עוֹלָם וְהָיוּ עֵינַי וְלִבִּי שָׁם כָּל־הַיָּמִים

The Lord said to him: I have heard your prayer and your entreaty that you entreated before Me. I have indeed sanctified this House that you built, to place My name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there always. This place is very important to Me as well.

וְאַתָּה אִם־תֵּלֵךְ לְפָנַי כַּאֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ דָּוִד אָבִיךָ בְּתָם־לֵבָב וּבְיֹשֶׁר לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִיךָ חֻקַּי וּמִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמֹר

As for you, if you walk before Me as David your father walked, in good faith and uprightly, acting in accordance with all that I have commanded you, observing My statutes and My ordinances,

וַהֲקִמֹתִי אֶת־כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתְּךָ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעֹלָם כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתִּי עַל־דָּוִד אָבִיךָ לֵאמֹר לֹא־יִכָּרֵת לְךָ אִישׁ מֵעַל כִּסֵּא יִשְׂרָאֵל

I will establish the throne of your kingship over Israel forever, as I spoke to David your father, saying: No man of yours will be eliminated from upon the throne of Israel. Your dynasty shall never cease.

אִם־שׁוֹב תְּשֻׁבוּן אַתֶּם וּבְנֵיכֶם מֵאַחֲרַי וְלֹא תִשְׁמְרוּ מִצְוֹתַי חֻקֹּתַי אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לִפְנֵיכֶם וַהֲלַכְתֶּם וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶם לָהֶם

If you and your children turn away from following Me, from the path that I have commanded you, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes that I have put before you, and go and serve other gods, and prostrate yourselves to them,

וְהִכְרַתִּי אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם וְאֶת־הַבַּיִת אֲשֶׁר הִקְדַּשְׁתִּי לִשְׁמִי אֲשַׁלַּח מֵעַל פָּנָי וְהָיָה יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמָשָׁל וְלִשְׁנִינָה בְּכָל־הָעַמִּים

I will eliminate Israel from upon the face of the land that I have given them by exiling them, and the House that I sanctified for My name I will dismiss from before Me, as it will be destroyed; Israel will become a proverb, an example of a people that suffered disaster, and an adage among all peoples, of which all will speak disparagingly.

וְהַבַּיִת הַזֶּה יִהְיֶה עֶלְיוֹן כָּל־עֹבֵר עָלָיו יִשֹּׁם וְשָׁרָק וְאָמְרוּ עַל־מֶה עָשָׂה ה' כָּכָה לָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת וְלַבַּיִת הַזֶּה

This House will be an upheaval. This phrase literally means “This House will be high,” meaning that it will be lifted from its place and destroyed, or that the House, which is going to be so elevated, shall become desolate, and everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will whistle in amazement; and the people who see the desolate Temple will say: For what did the Lord do so to this land and to this House?

וְאָמְרוּ עַל אֲשֶׁר עָזְבוּ אֶת־ה' אֱלֹהֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיא אֶת־אֲבֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַיַּחֲזִקוּ בֵּאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוֻ לָהֶם וַיַּעַבְדֻם עַל־כֵּן הֵבִיא ה' עֲלֵיהֶם אֵת כָּל־הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת

And they will say: It is because they forsook the Lord their God, who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they took up other gods, and they prostrated themselves to them, and served them; therefore, the Lord brought all this evil upon them. The wording here is almost identical to a passage that appears toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy (29:23–25).

וַיְהִי מִקְצֵה עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה אֲשֶׁר־בָּנָה שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת־שְׁנֵי הַבָּתִּים אֶת־בֵּית ה' וְאֶת־בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ

It was at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon built the two houses, the House of the Lord and the king’s house.

חִירָם מֶלֶךְ־צֹר נִשָּׂא אֶת־שְׁלֹמֹה בַּעֲצֵי אֲרָזִים וּבַעֲצֵי בְרוֹשִׁים וּבַזָּהָב לְכָל־חֶפְצוֹ אָז יִתֵּן הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה לְחִירָם עֶשְׂרִים עִיר בְּאֶרֶץ הַגָּלִיל

The chapter inserts a parenthetical background comment here: Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon, throughout that entire period, with cedarwood and juniper wood, and with gold for all his needs. The king of Tyre had provided Solomon with all the wood and gold that he required for his building projects, and it came to pass that then, at the end of the years of construction, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of the Galilee. It would seem that he did not grant the king of Tyre these cities to annex them to his own land, as that change of citizenship would have applied to the residents of those cities as well. Rather, they were subjugated to Hiram for tax purposes alone. Despite Solomon’s great wealth, he was unable to cover the immense expenses of his projects from his own treasuries. He therefore gave Hiram permission to collect taxes from the produce of those cities on a permanent basis.

וַיֵּצֵא חִירָם מִצֹּר לִרְאוֹת אֶת־הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר נָתַן־לוֹ שְׁלֹמֹה וְלֹא יָשְׁרוּ בְּעֵינָיו

Hiram emerged from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not acceptable in his eyes.

וַיֹּאמֶר מָה הֶעָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר־נָתַתָּה לִּי אָחִי וַיִּקְרָא לָהֶם אֶרֶץ כָּבוּל עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה

He said: What are these cities that you have given me, my brother? Hiram wanted better or larger cities, which would provide him with more tax from their produce. He called them the land of Kabul, a closed, locked land, to this day. That area was known as Kabul until the time of the writing of the book of Kings.

וַיִּשְׁלַח חִירָם לַמֶּלֶךְ מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים כִּכַּר זָהָב

Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold. Hiram was the leader of the greatest commercial empire in the world, and he had massive reserves of gold at his disposal, for which he had no use himself. Not all of this gold was incorporated directly in the Temple; some of it was used for decorative purposes or as payments.

וְזֶה דְבַר־הַמַּס אֲשֶׁר־הֶעֱלָה הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה לִבְנוֹת אֶת־בֵּית ה' וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ וְאֶת־הַמִּלּוֹא וְאֵת חוֹמַת יְרוּשָׁלִָם וְאֶת־חָצֹר וְאֶת־מְגִדּוֹ וְאֶת־גָּזֶר

This list below is the matter of the levy, the manual labor of foreign workers who did not have a portion in the land, that King Solomon imposed to build the House of the Lord, his own house, the Milo, a rampart or fortified structure, or an area surrounded by supporting walls and filled [mulla] with earth, in order to combine the entire city into a single unit, and the wall of Jerusalem, along its new route, and Hatzor, and Megiddo, economic and commercial centers where the king’s horses were tended and apparently where his treasuries were stored, and Gezer.

פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ־מִצְרַיִם עָלָה וַיִּלְכֹּד אֶת־גֶּזֶר וַיִּשְׂרְפָהּ בָּאֵשׁ וְאֶת־הַכְּנַעֲנִי הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּעִיר הָרָג וַיִּתְּנָהּ שִׁלֻּחִים לְבִתּוֹ אֵשֶׁת שְׁלֹמֹה

Apropos the mention of Gezer, the chapter relates how it came into Solomon’s possession, as not even David was able to conquer this powerful city. Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up with his large army and captured Gezer; he had burned it with fire and killed the Canaanites who resided in the city, and he gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife, as the city was situated within the kingdom of Solomon.

וַיִּבֶן שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת־גָּזֶר וְאֶת־בֵּית חֹרֹן תַּחְתּוֹן

Solomon built Gezer, and Lower Beit Horon,

וְאֶת־בַּעֲלָת וְאֶת־תַּדְמֹר בַּמִּדְבָּר בָּאָרֶץ

and Baalat, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

וְאֵת כָּל־עָרֵי הַמִּסְכְּנוֹת אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ לִשְׁלֹמֹה וְאֵת עָרֵי הָרֶכֶב וְאֵת עָרֵי הַפָּרָשִׁים וְאֵת חֵשֶׁק שְׁלֹמֹה אֲשֶׁר חָשַׁק לִבְנוֹת בִּירוּשָׁלִַם וּבַלְּבָנוֹן וּבְכֹל אֶרֶץ מֶמְשַׁלְתּוֹ

and all the storehouse cities, the warehouses, that Solomon had, and the chariot cities, and the cavalry cities, the cities where his chariots were kept, which also contained stables for the horses of the king’s army, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure, his construction plans, in Jerusalem, and in the Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

כָּל־הָעָם הַנּוֹתָר מִן־הָאֱמֹרִי הַחִתִּי הַפְּרִזִּי הַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא־מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵמָּה

The verse details the levy: All the remaining people from the Emorites, the Hitites, the Perizites, the Hivites, and the Yevusites, who were not of the children of Israel,

בְּנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר נֹתְרוּ אַחֲרֵיהֶם בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָכְלוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְהַחֲרִימָם וַיַּעֲלֵם שְׁלֹמֹה לְמַס־עֹבֵד עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה

in other words, their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy, all the foreigners who were not expelled and who remained in the land, Solomon imposed upon them a levy of labor, to this day. These foreigners were not entitled to an inheritance when the land was distributed among the children of Israel, and any territory in their possession was taken away from them. They therefore worked as paid laborers in Solomon’s grand construction projects.

וּמִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא־נָתַן שְׁלֹמֹה עָבֶד כִּי־הֵם אַנְשֵׁי הַמִּלְחָמָה וַעֲבָדָיו וְשָׂרָיו וְשָׁלִישָׁיו וְשָׂרֵי רִכְבּוֹ וּפָרָשָׁיו

But in contrast, from the children of Israel, Solomon did not make slaves, as they were the men of war, his servants, his commanders, his officials, and the commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

אֵלֶּה שָׂרֵי הַנִּצָּבִים אֲשֶׁר עַל־הַמְּלָאכָה לִשְׁלֹמֹה חֲמִשִּׁים וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת הָרֹדִים בָּעָם הָעֹשִׂים בַּמְּלָאכָה

These men of Israel were the chief officials who were in charge of the labor for Solomon, five hundred and fifty who ruled over the people, the tens of thousands of laborers, who performed the labor.

אַךְ בַּת־פַּרְעֹה עָלְתָה מֵעִיר דָּוִד אֶל־בֵּיתָהּ אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה־לָהּ אָז בָּנָה אֶת־הַמִּלּוֹא

When Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David, where she had initially been brought by the king, to her house that he had built for her, near his own palace, he, Solomon, then built the Milo, so that the city should be contiguous, and that it could be surrounded with a single wall. Apparently, the structures of the king’s house, including the house for Pharaoh’s daughter, were built in the Milo. Nothing is known of the personal relations between Solomon and the daughter of Pharaoh, but it is clear that his marriage to her was a significant diplomatic achievement, which is why it is also mentioned separately above (3:1), as well as in the list of the king’s wives (11:1).

וְהֶעֱלָה שְׁלֹמֹה שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה עֹלוֹת וּשְׁלָמִים עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה לַה' וְהַקְטֵיר אִתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי ה' וְשִׁלַּם אֶת הַבָּיִת

Three times a year Solomon offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar that he had built to the Lord, and he burned incense on that which was before the Lord, and he completed the necessary work for the House.

וָאֳנִי עָשָׂה הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה בְּעֶצְיוֹן־גֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר אֶת אֵלוֹת עַל־שְׂפַת יַם־סוּף בְּאֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם

King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Etzyon Gever, which is beside Elot, on the shore of the Red Sea. There was great commercial rivalry in the Mediterranean Sea between the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon, the Philistines who lived in port cities, the Egyptians, and other maritime trade nations. Solomon had the advantage of control over the approach to the Red Sea. The establishment of a navy in this strategic location is further testimony to his kingdom’s scope and strength. This place, Etzyon Gever, was in the land of Edom. The entire region south of Judah officially belonged to Edom, but in practice Solomon was the supreme ruler there as well, and he used its towns for his own needs.

וַיִּשְׁלַח חִירָם בָּאֳנִי אֶת־עֲבָדָיו אַנְשֵׁי אֳנִיּוֹת יֹדְעֵי הַיָּם עִם עַבְדֵי שְׁלֹמֹה

Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, experienced shipmen who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon, to provide them with assistance.

וַיָּבֹאוּ אוֹפִירָה וַיִּקְחוּ מִשָּׁם זָהָב אַרְבַּע־מֵאוֹת וְעֶשְׂרִים כִּכָּר וַיָּבִאוּ אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה

They came to Ofir, and they took from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.