2 Chronicles 8

Chapter 8

Solomon’s Activities and Accomplishments

^1aNow it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house

²that he built the cities which Huram had given to ¹him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath.

⁵He also built upper ^aBeth-horon and lower Beth-horon, ^bfortified cities with walls, gates and bars;

⁶and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for ¹his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land ²under his rule.

^7aAll of the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

⁸namely, from their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, ^athem Solomon raised as forced laborers to this day.

⁹But Solomon did not make slaves for his work from the sons of Israel; they were men of war, his chief captains and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief ¹officers of King Solomon, two hundred and fifty who ruled over the people.

^11aThen Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because ¹the places are holy where the ark of the Lord has entered.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on ^athe altar of the Lord which he had built before the porch;

¹³and ^adid so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^baccording to the commandment of Moses, for ^cthe sabbaths, ^dthe new moons and the ^ethree annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

¹⁴Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed ^athe divisions of the priests for their service, and ^bthe Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^cthe gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for ^dDavid the man of God had so commanded.

¹⁵And they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any manner or concerning the storehouses.

¹⁶Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out ¹from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to ^aEzion-geber and to ^bEloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And Huram by his servants sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and ^atook from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.