1Twenty years passed, during which Solomon built the house of the LORD and his own house.
2Then Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram had given back to him, and he settled the people of Israel there.
3Solomon went to Hamathzobah and took it.
4He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities that he built in Hamath.
5He also built Upper Bethhoron and Lower Bethhoron, strong cities with walls, gates and bars.
6He built Baalath too, and all the storage cities that he had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen. He built everything he wished to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and all through the land he ruled.
7There were people still left from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not Israelites.
8Their children were left after them in the land, because the people of Israel had not destroyed them. Solomon made these people do forced labour, as they still do to this day.
9But Solomon made no Israelites into slaves for his work. They were his fighting men, the chiefs of his captains, and the captains of his chariots and horsemen.
10These were the chief officers of King Solomon: two hundred and fifty men who ruled over the people.
11Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house he had built for her. For he said, "My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has come are holy."
12Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD that he had built in front of the porch.
13He offered a set amount every day, as Moses had commanded, on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the three yearly feasts: the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles.
14Following the orders of David his father, he appointed the groups of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their duties, to give praise and to serve in front of the priests, as each day's work required. He also set the gatekeepers in their groups at every gate, for so David the man of God had commanded.
15They did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites about any matter, or about the treasures.
16So all Solomon's work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.
18Huram sent him ships by the hands of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with Solomon's servants to Ophir, and took from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.