3:4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places. 2 Solomon would offer up 3 a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there.
1 tn Heb “and all the people went up after him, and the people were playing flutes and rejoicing with great joy and the ground split open at the sound of them.” The verb בָּקַע (baqa’, “to split open”), which elsewhere describes the effects of an earthquake, is obviously here an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis.
2 tn Heb “for it was the great high place.”
3 tn The verb form is an imperfect, which is probably used here in a customary sense to indicate continued or repeated action in past time. See GKC 314 §107.b.