2 Chronicles 8

1At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own palace,

2Solomon rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given him and settled Israelites there.

3Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it.

4He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities he had built in Hamath.

5He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

6as well as Baalath and all the store cities that belonged to Solomon, all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout the land under his rule.

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

8their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, as they are to this day.

9But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites for his work; they were his soldiers, his chief officers, and the commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

10These were King Solomon’s chief officials, 250 who supervised the people.

11Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places the ark of Yahweh has entered are holy.”

12Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh that he had built in front of the porch,

13as the duty of each day required, offering them according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the three annual appointed feasts: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths.

14Following the ordinance of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their duties of praising and ministering before the priests as each day required, and the gatekeepers by their divisions for each gate, for this was what David the man of God had commanded.

15They did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites in any matter, including the treasuries.

16So all Solomon’s work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid until it was finished. The house of Yahweh was complete.

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

18Hiram sent him ships by his servants, along with servants who knew the sea. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, took from there 450 talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.