21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
21 Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these peoples remaining in the land-whom the Israelites could not exterminate
21 their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction
21 survivors of the holy wars, were rounded up by Solomon for his gangs of slave labor, a policy still in effect.
21 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely--from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day.
21 These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not completely destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them as slaves, and they serve as forced laborers to this day.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 9:21
Commentary on 1 Kings 9:15-28
(Read 1 Kings 9:15-28)
Here is a further account of Solomon's greatness. He began at the right end, for he built God's house first, and finished that before he began his own; then God blessed him, and he prospered in all his other buildings. Let piety begin, and profit follow; leave pleasure to the last. Whatever pains we take for the glory of God, and to profit others, we are likely to have the advantage. Canaan, the holy land, the glory of all lands, had no gold in it; which shows that the best produce is that which is for the present support of life, our own and others; such things did Canaan produce. Solomon got much by his merchandise, and yet has directed us to a better trade, within reach of the poorest. Wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold, Proverbs 3:14.