2 Chronicles 8:1-7

Building Projects and Commercial Efforts

8:1 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and his royal palace, 8:2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram ¹  had given him and settled Israelites there. 8:3 Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. 8:4 He built up Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities he had built in Hamath. 8:5 He made upper Beth Horon and lower Beth Horon fortified cities with walls and barred gates, ²  8:6 and built up Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to him, ³  and all the cities where chariots and horses were kept. ⁴  He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, ⁵  Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom. ⁶ 

8:7 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁷ 

[8:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Huram” (also in v. 18). Some medieval Hebrew mss, along with the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate spell the name “Hiram,” agreeing with 1 Chr 14:1. “Huram” is a variant spelling referring to the same individual.

[8:5]  ² tn Heb “and he built…[as] cities of fortification, [with] walls, doors, and a bar.”

[8:6]  ³ tn Heb “Solomon.” The recurrence of the proper name is unexpected in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the cities of the chariots and the cities of the horses.”

[8:6]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his kingdom.”

[8:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the people who were left from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not from Israel.”