2 Chronicles 8 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~959-946 BC, the second half of Solomon's reign, after twenty years of building
Location
Jerusalem and the wider kingdom, including fortified towns in the north, store cities, and the Red Sea port of Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Aqaba
Audience
Post-exilic Judeans under Persian rule, with no king, no army, and no fleet of their own
Situation
With the temple and palace finished, Solomon builds up fortified and storage cities, organises forced labour from the surviving Canaanite peoples, moves Pharaoh's daughter out of David's old palace, and establishes the annual pattern of festival offerings. He also launches a merchant fleet with Hiram's sailors from the Red Sea coast.
Key Background
Store cities held grain, weapons, and chariots at strategic points along trade and invasion routes, the standard way an Iron Age kingdom projected control over territory it could not garrison everywhere. Solomon moves his Egyptian wife out of the old royal quarters because those rooms had housed the ark, and the writer wants the reader to see the king protecting holy space rather than merely rearranging his household. The Red Sea venture put Israel on the sea route to Arabia and East Africa, which is the trade network that explains the queen of Sheba's visit in the next chapter.
At the end of during which Solomon had built and his own palace,
Solomon rebuilt the cities that had given to him, and settled Israelites in them.
Then Solomon went to and overpowered it.
He built up in the wilderness and all the he had built in Hamath.
He also built Upper and Lower as with walls, gates, and bars,
along with and all the storage that Solomon had, and all the and the — whatever Solomon wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.
As for all the people left over from the and — who were not part of Israel —
their descendants who remained in the land, whom the Israelites had not wiped out — Solomon conscripted them for and they remain so to this
But Solomon did not make of the Israelites for his work. Instead, they served as his soldiers, commanders, officers, and chariot and cavalry captains.
These were King Solomon's — two hundred and fifty of them — who supervised the people.
Solomon brought up from the of to the palace he had built for her, because he said, "My wife must not live in the house of king of Israel, because the places the of has been are
Then Solomon offered up to Yahweh on Yahweh's that he had built in front of the
following the daily schedule for offerings according to the command of Moses — for and the three annual the of the of and the of
Following the decree of his father David, he appointed the of the to their service, and the to their duties of praise and service alongside the according to the daily schedule. He also appointed the gatekeepers by their at each gate, for this is what David, the of had commanded.
They did not deviate from the king's command to the priests and Levites regarding any matter, including the
All of Solomon's work was carried out from the day the of Yahweh's house was laid until its completion. Yahweh's house was finished.
Then Solomon went to and to on the coast in the land of
And Huram sent him ships commanded by his own servants — experienced sailors — along with Solomon's servants. They went to and brought back of gold to King Solomon.