II Chronicles 8

¹Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the house of the Lord and a house for himself,

²He took in hand the building up of the towns which Huram had given him, causing the children of Israel to make living-places for themselves there.

³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and overcame it.

⁴And he put up the buildings of Tadmor in the waste land, and of all the store-towns in Hamath;

⁵And of Beth-horon the higher and the lower, walled towns with walls and doorways and locks;

⁶And of Baalath, and all the store-towns which Solomon had, and the towns where he kept his war-carriages and his horse men, and everything which it was his pleasure to put up in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land under his rule.

⁷As for all the rest of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel:

⁸Their men who were still living in the land, and whom the children of Israel had not put an end to, these Solomon put to forced work, as is done to this day;

⁹But Solomon did not make use of the children of Israel as servants for his work; they were men of war, his chiefs and his captains, and captains of his war-carriages and his horsemen.

¹⁰Now these were the chief men in authority whom King Solomon had: two hundred and fifty of them, in authority over the people.

¹¹Then Solomon made Pharaoh's daughter come up from the town of David to the house which he had made for her; for he said, I will not have my wife living in the house of David, king of Israel, because those places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy.

¹²Then Solomon made burned offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had put up in front of the covered way,

¹³Offering every day what had been ordered by Moses, on the Sabbaths and at the new moon and at the regular feasts three times a year, that is at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents.

¹⁴And he gave the divisions of the priests their places for their work, as ordered by his father David, and to the Levites he gave their work of praise and waiting on the priests, to do what was needed day by day; and he gave the door-keepers their places in turn at every door; for so David, the man of God, had given orders.

¹⁵All the orders given by the king to the priests and Levites, in connection with any business or stores, were done with care.

¹⁶And all the work of Solomon was complete, from the day when he put the base of the Lord's house in position, till Solomon had come to the end of building the Lord's house.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth by the sea in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And Huram sent him, by his servants, ships and experienced seamen, who went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and came back with four hundred and fifty talents of gold, which they took to King Solomon.

II Chronicles 8

¹It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house,

²that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth Horon the upper, and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel;

⁸of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel did not consume, of them Solomon conscripted forced labor to this day.

⁹But of the children of Israel, Solomon made no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two-hundred fifty, who ruled over the people.

¹¹Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house that he had built for her; for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy."

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch,

¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents.

¹⁴He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.

¹⁵They did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared to the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion Geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.