2 Chronicles 8
1 Twenty years passed while Solomon was building the house of the LORD and his own house.
2 Solomon rebuilt the cities Huram had given him, and settled the Israelites in them.
3 Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and subdued it.
4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness, along with all the store cities he had built in Hamath.
5 He also built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars.
6 He built Baalath and all his store cities, all his chariot cities and cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout all the land under his rule.
7 There remained people from among the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites.
8 From their descendants who had remained in the land, whom the Israelites had not wiped out, Solomon conscripted forced laborers, as they remain to this day.
9 But Solomon did not make Israelites slaves for his work, because they were men of war, commanders of his officers, and commanders of his chariots and cavalry.
10 These were the chief officers of King Solomon: 250 who commanded the people.
11 Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “No wife of mine shall live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”
12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD that he had built before the portico.
13 He offered them according to the daily schedule, in keeping with the commandment of Moses: on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the three annual festivals—the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths.
14 Following the rule of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, the Levites for their duties—to praise and serve in the presence of the priests according to the daily schedule—and the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate. For this was what David, the man of God, had commanded.
15 They did not depart from the king’s command concerning the priests and Levites in any matter, or concerning the treasuries.
16 So all Solomon’s work was completed, from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. The house of the LORD was complete.
17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Elath, on the seacoast in the land of Edom.
18 Huram sent him ships and experienced sailors through his servants. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, took 450 talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
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