2Ch 8 | NASB2020 | STEP | Now it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house ,

2 Chronicles 8

Solomon’s Activities and Accomplishments

1 ^aNow it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, 2 that he built the cities which Huram had given ^{▼▼Lit Solomon}him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

3 Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it. 4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath. 5 He also built upper ^cBeth-horon and lower Beth-horon, which were ^dfortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; 6 and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for ^{▼▼Lit the}his chariots and cities for ^{▼▼Lit the}his horsemen, and everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land ^{▼▼Lit of}under his rule.

7 ^hAll of the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, 8 that is, from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, ⁱSolomon raised them as forced laborers to this day. 9 But Solomon did not make slaves from the sons of Israel for his work; for they were men of war, his chief captains and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen. 10 These were the chief ^{▼▼Or deputies}officers of King Solomon, 250 who ruled over the people.

11 ^kThen 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 live in the house of David king of Israel, because ^{▼▼Lit they are}the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on ^mthe altar of the Lord which he had built in front of the porch; 13 and ⁿhe did so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^oaccording to the commandment of Moses, for ^pthe Sabbaths, ^qthe new moons, and the ^rthree annual feasts--the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.

14 Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed ^sthe divisions of the priests for their service, and ^tthe Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^uthe gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for this is what ^vDavid, the man of God, had commanded. 15 And they did not deviate from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any matter or regarding the storehouses.

16 So all the work of Solomon was carried out ^{▼▼As in ancient versions; MT as far as}from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

17 Then Solomon went to ^xEzion-geber and to ^yEloth on the seashore in the land of Edom. 18 And by his servants Huram sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and ^ztook from there ^{▼▼About 17 tons or 15 metric tons} 450 talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.