1 Twenty years passed, during which Solomon built the house of the LORD and his own house.
2 Then Solomon rebuilt the cities Hiram had given him and settled children of Israel in them.
3 Solomon marched to Hamath-zobah and overpowered it.
4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities he built in Hamath.
5 He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon as fortress cities, with walls, gates, and bars,
6 as well as Baalath and all Solomon's storage cities, all the cities for chariots and the cities for horsemen, and whatever Solomon wished to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout the land under his rule.
7 All the people remaining from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites,
8 their descendants still left in the land, whom the children of Israel had not wiped out, Solomon conscripted as forced laborers, as they are to this day.
9 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the children of Israel for his work; they were soldiers, chiefs of his officers, and commanders of his chariots and horsemen.
10 King Solomon's chief officials numbered two hundred and fifty, who had authority over the people.
11 Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David into the house he had built for her, for he said, "No wife of mine may live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy."
12 At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD's altar that he had built before the porch,
13 day by day as required, presenting offerings by Moses' command on Sabbaths, new moons, and the three yearly appointed feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.
14 Following his father David's ruling, he set the divisions of the priests over their service, the Levites over their duties of praise and serving alongside the priests as each day required, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for this was the command of David the man of God.
15 They did not depart from the king's command concerning the priests and Levites in anything, including the treasuries.
16 In this way all Solomon's work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was done. So the house of the LORD was completed.
17 Solomon then went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the coast in the land of Edom.
18 Hiram sent him ships under the command of his servants, along with servants who knew the sea. Together with Solomon's servants they sailed to Ophir, picked up four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and delivered it to King Solomon.