9. Other people will answer, ‘This happened because they left the Lord their God. He brought their ancestors out of Egypt. But they decided to follow other gods. They worshiped and served those gods. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster to them.’”
10. By the end of 20 years, King Solomon had built the Temple of the Lord. And he had built the royal palace.
11. At that time King Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre. Solomon did this because Hiram had helped with the buildings. Hiram had given him all the cedar, pine and gold he wanted.
12. So Hiram traveled from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him. When Hiram saw them, he was not pleased.
13. He asked, “What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” So he named that land the Land of Cabul. And it is still called that today.
14. Hiram had sent to King Solomon about 9,000 pounds of gold.
15. King Solomon had forced slaves to build the Temple and the palace. Then he had them fill in the land on the east side of the city. And he had them build the wall around Jerusalem. He also had them rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.
16. (In the past the king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it. He had burned it and killed the Canaanites who lived there. Then he gave it to his daughter as a wedding present. His daughter married Solomon.
17. So Solomon rebuilt it.) He also built the cities of Lower Beth Horon,
18. Baalath and Tadmor, which is in the Judean desert.
19. King Solomon also built cities where he could store grain and supplies. And he built cities for his chariots and chariot soldiers. Solomon built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon and everywhere he ruled.
20. There were people in the land who were not Israelites. There were some Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
21. The Israelites had not been able to destroy them from the land. So Solomon forced them to work for him as slaves. And they are still slaves today.
22. But Solomon did not force any Israelites to be his slaves. The Israelites were his soldiers, government leaders, officers, captains and chariot commanders and drivers.