12. Hiram went from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him. They didn’t seem adequate in his view.
13. So Hiram remarked, "My brother, are these towns you’ve given me good for anything?" The cities are thus called the land of Cabul to this very day.
14. But Hiram sent the king one hundred twenty gold kikkars, nevertheless.
15. This is the story of the labor gang that King Solomon put together to build the Lord’s temple and his own palace, as well as the stepped structure, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer: (
16. Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, had attacked and captured Gezer, setting it on fire. He killed the Canaanites who lived in the city and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.)
17. Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,
18. Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness (within the land),
19. along with all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, as well as the cities used for storing chariots and cavalry and whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom.
20. Any non-Israelite people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—
21. that is, the descendants of such people who were still in the land because the Israelites weren’t able to wipe them out—Solomon forced into the labor gangs that are still in existence today.
22. However, Solomon didn’t force the Israelites to work as slaves; instead, they became warriors, his servants, his leaders, his officers, and those in charge of his chariots and cavalry.