2 Chronicles 8

Solomon Keeps Building & Organizing

1 And it happened, at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the Lord’s temple and his own palace,

2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram had given him, and settled Israelites there.

3 Solomon then rolled up to Hamath-Zobah and took it.

4 He built up Tadmor in the desert, and all the storage cities he built in Hamath.

5 He also built Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

6 And Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon felt like building in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout all the territory he ruled.

7 All the people who were left from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites,

8 Their descendants who were still in the land, whom the Israelites had not completely wiped out, Solomon put them on forced labor, and they are still doing it to this day.

9 But from the Israelites, Solomon did not make any of them slaves for his work. Instead, they were his warriors, his chief officers, his commanders of chariots and horsemen.

10 These were King Solomon’s chief officials: two hundred fifty dudes in charge of the people who were doing the work.

11 Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he built for her, because he said, “My wife is not going to live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the Ark of the Lord has been are holy.”

Temple Service Organized

12 At that time, Solomon started offering burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord that he had built in front of the porch.

13 He did this according to the daily rule, offering sacrifices according to the command of Moses for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three annual festivals, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths.

14 He also set up the divisions of the priests for their service, according to the order of his daddy David, and the Levites in their duties to praise and assist the priests, as each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions for each gate. Because that is what David, the man of God, had commanded.

15 They did not curve from the king’s command to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries.

16 All of Solomon’s work was set up from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid until it was finished. So the Lord’s temple was completed.

Solomon’s Wealth & Trade

17 Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Eloth on the coast of Edom.

18 And Huram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and sailors who knew the sea. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and brought back about sixteen tons of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.