And when twenty years were ended after Solomon had built the two houses, that is, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king,

And it cometh to pass, at the end of twenty years, that Solomon hath built the two houses, the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king.

Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house,

And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king's house-

Then, when twenty years were fulfilled, after Solomon had built the two houses, that is, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king,

The "twenty years" are to be counted from the fourth year of Solomon, the year when he commenced the building of the temple. They are made up of the seven years employed in the work of the temple 1-Kings 6:38, and the thirteen years during which Solomon was building his own house 1-Kings 7:1.

At the end of twenty years - He employed seven years and a half in building the temple, and twelve years and a half in building the king's house; see 1-Kings 7:1; 2-Chronicles 8:1.

And it came to pass at the end of twenty years,.... From the time Solomon first began to build: when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king's house; the first was seven years in building, and the other thirteen; in all twenty.

Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities. Hiram did not like them. If Solomon would gratify him, let it be in his own element, by becoming his partner in trade, as he did. See how the providence of God suits this earth to the various tempers of men, and the dispositions of men to the earth, and all for the good of mankind in general.

THE MUTUAL PRESENTS OF SOLOMON AND HIRAM. (1-Kings 9:10-23)
at the end of twenty years--Seven and a half years were spent in building the temple, and twelve and a half or thirteen in the erection of his palace (1-Kings 7:1; 2-Chronicles 8:1). This verse is only a recapitulation of 1-Kings 9:1, necessary to recover the thread of connection in the narrative.

The Means by which the Buildings were Erected. - In order that all which still remained to be said concerning Solomon's buildings might be grouped together, different notices are introduced here, namely, as to his relation to Hiram, the erection of several fortresses, and the tributary labour, and also as to his maritime expeditions; and these heterogeneous materials are so arranged as to indicate the resources which enabled Solomon to erect so many and such magnificent buildings. These resources were: (1) his connection with king Hiram, who furnished him with building materials (1-Kings 9:10-14); (2) the tributary labour which he raised in his kingdom (1-Kings 9:15-25); (3) the maritime expedition to Ophir, which brought him great wealth (1-Kings 9:26-28). But these notices are very condensed, and, as a comparison with the parallel account in 2 Chron 8 shows, are simply incomplete extracts from a more elaborate history. In the account of the tributary labour, the enumeration of the cities finished and fortified (1-Kings 9:15-19) is interpolated; and the information concerning the support which was rendered to Solomon in the erection of his buildings by Hiram (1-Kings 9:11-14), is merely supplementary to the account already given in 1-Kings 9:5. 1-Kings 9:24, 1-Kings 9:25 point still more clearly to an earlier account, since they would be otherwise unintelligible. - In 2 Chron 8 the arrangement is a simpler one: the buildings are first of all enumerated in 2-Chronicles 8:1-6, and the account of the tributary labour follows in 2-Chronicles 8:7-11.