2 Chronicles 8

1 Solomon’s [workers] worked for 20 years to build the temple and the king’s palace.

Then, twenty years having passed since Solomon built the house of the Lord and his own house,

2 Then his [workers] rebuilt the cities that [King] Hiram had given back to Solomon, and Solomon sent Israelis to live in those cities.

he built the cities that Hiram had given to Solomon, and he caused the sons of Israel to live there.

3 Solomon’s [army] then went to Hamath-Zobah [town] and captured it.

Also, he went to Hamath Zobah, and he obtained it.

4 His workers also rebuilt walls around Tadmor [town] in the desert, and in [the] Hamath [region] in all the towns where they kept supplies.

And he built Palmira in the desert, and he built very fortified cities in Hamath.

5 They rebuilt Upper Beth-Horon [town] and Lower Beth-Horon [city], and built walls around them with gates [in the walls] and bars [to fasten the gates].

And he built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, as walled cities, having gates and bars and locks,

6 They also rebuilt Baalath [town] and all the cities where supplies were kept and the cities where Solomon’s chariots and horses were kept. Solomon’s [workers] built whatever he wanted them to build, in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and in other places in the area that he ruled.

as well as Baalath, and all the very strong cities which were of Solomon, and all the cities of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen. Everything whatsoever that Solomon willed and decided, he built in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout the entire land of his authority.

7 Solomon forced people from many other groups who were not Israelis to work for him like slaves. They were people from the Heth, Amor, Periz, Hiv, and Jebus people-groups.

All the people who had been left from the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, those who were not from the stock of Israel,

8 They were descendants of groups whom the Israelis had not completely destroyed. Solomon forced them to become his slaves, and they are still slaves.

those of their sons and their posterity whom the sons of Israel had not put to death, Solomon subjugated as tributaries, even to this day.

9 But Solomon did not force Israelis to work for him. Israelis became his soldiers and commanders of his chariots and his chariot-drivers.

But he did not appoint anyone from the sons of Israel to serve in the works of the king. For they were men of war, and first rulers, and commanders of his chariots and horsemen.

10 They were also King Solomon’s chief officials. There were 250 of them, and they supervised the workers.

Now all the leaders of the army of king Solomon were two hundred fifty, who were instructing the people.

11 Solomon moved his wife, who was the daughter of the king of Egypt, from [the place outside Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’ to the place that his workers had built for her. He said, “I do not want my wife to live in the palace that [my father] King David’s workers built, because the Sacred Chest [was in that palace for a while], and any place where the Sacred Chest has been is holy.”

Truly, he transferred the daughter of Pharaoh, from the City of David, to the house that he had built for her. For the king said: “My wife shall not live in the house of David, king of Israel, for it has been sanctified. For the ark of the Lord has entered into it.”

12 On the altar that Solomon’s [workers] had built in front of the entrance [to the temple], Solomon sacrificed many offerings that were to be completely burned.

Then Solomon offered holocausts to the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had constructed before the portico,

13 He did that to obey the rules about what sacrifices Moses had declared should be made. These included sacrifices for every day and for the Sabbath days and to celebrate each day on which there was a new moon and for the three other festivals that were celebrated each year. Those festivals were the Festival of Eating Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

so that every day there would be an offering on it, in accord with the precept of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and three times a year on the feast days, that is, on the solemnity of unleavened bread, and on the solemnity of weeks, and on the solemnity of tabernacles.

14 Obeying what his father David had commanded, he appointed the groups of priests for their work, and he appointed the descendants of Levi to lead the people while they sang to praise Yahweh and while they assisted the priests in their daily work. He also appointed groups of them to guard all the gates, because that was also what David, the man who pleased God [very well], had commanded.

And he appointed, in accord with the plan of his father David, the offices of the priests in their ministries; and those of the Levites, in their orders, so that they might praise and minister before the priests according to the ritual of each day; and the porters, in their divisions, from gate to gate. For so had David, the man of God, instructed.

15 The priests and other descendants of Levi obeyed completely everything that the king commanded, including [taking care of] the storerooms.

Neither the priests, nor the Levites, transgressed against the commands of the king, in all that he had instructed, and in the keeping of the treasuries.

16 They did all the work [of building the temple] that Solomon told them to do, until it was all completed. So they finishing building the temple.

Solomon had all the expenses prepared, from the day on which he founded the house of the Lord, even until the day when he perfected it.

17 Then some of Solomon’s men went to Ezion-Geber and Elath [cities] on the coast of the Red Sea, an area that belonged to the Edom people-group.

Then Solomon went away to Eziongeber, and to Eloth, on the coast of the Red Sea, which is in the land of Edom.

18 King Hiram sent to Solomon from [Tyre city] some ships that were commanded by his officers. They were men who were experienced sailors. These men went in the ships with Solomon’s men to [the] Ophir [region] and brought back about 17 tons of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

And Hiram sent to him ships, by the hands of his servants, sailors and skillful navigators of the sea, and they went away with the servants of Solomon to Ophir. And they took from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and they brought it to king Solomon.