The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — 2 Chronicles 8:1

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

2 Chronicles 8:1–18 — Solomon’s Additional Achievements. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

are reckoned from the fourth year of the reign ( 1Kings 6:6 ), and include seven years during which the Temple was building, and thirteen during which the palace was built

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The description is intended to be, what it is, chronologically exact. Four years of Solomon had passed when he began the Lord's house, seven were spent in building it, thirteen in finishing and furnishing it, and in building, finishing, and furnishing the king's house - in all twenty-four years.

The Pulpit Commentary calls the notice chronologically exact and then counts to twenty-four, which is an honest exhibition of the problem rather than a solution to it.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Signifying that he was 20 years in building them.

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Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own palace,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî miq·qêṣ ‘eś·rîm šā·nāh ’ă·šer šə·lō·mōh ’eṯ- bā·nāh bêṯ Yah·weh wə·’eṯ- bê·ṯōw

Word by word12 · parsed

וַיְהִ֞יway·hîNowH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

מִקֵּ֣ץ׀miq·qêṣat the endH7093

√ qêts — an extremityPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

qêts: an extremity The noun names an edge, not a duration. The unit therefore opens standing at a boundary and looking back over finished work, which is exactly the posture of the whole chapter: an inventory taken after the building.

עֶשְׂרִ֣ים‘eś·rîmof the twentyH6242

√ ʻesrîym — twentyNumbercommon plural

שָׁנָ֗הšā·nāhyearsH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerduring whichH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

בָּנָ֧הbā·nāhhad builtH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

bânâh: to build (literally and figuratively) The governing verb of the unit. Bânâh occurs at vv. 1, 2, 4 (twice), 5, 6, 11 and 12, and the Verifier records it as the shared lexeme binding this unit to 1 Kings 9:1, 9:19 and 2 Chronicles 2:3. Everything Solomon is credited with here he is credited with building.

בֵּ֥יתbêṯthe houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

Yᵉhôvâh: Jehovah, Jewish national name of God The divine name appears in this verse only as the genitive of a house. That is the Chronicler's accent throughout: the LORD is named where the building is named.

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-andH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

בֵּיתֽוֹ׃bê·ṯōwhis own palaceH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

bayith: a house (in the greatest variation of applications) One word for temple and for palace. Geneva's gloss reads the twenty years as the time "in building them," both together; Ellicott and K&D split them seven and thirteen. The Hebrew noun itself refuses the split.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-it-came-to-pass from-the-end of-twenty year, which Solomon had-built the-house-of-YHWH and-his-own-house,

Where the English smooths the original

וַיְהִ֞י וַיְהִ֞י (way·hî, H1961 hâyâh, Qal consecutive imperfect) is the narrative formula "and it came to pass." BSB's "Now" keeps the hinge but drops the verb. Ellicott records that this verb "is identical with 1Kings 9:10 , slightly abbreviated": the Chronicler is copying a seam, not inventing one.
מִקֵּ֣ץ מִקֵּ֣ץ (miq·qêṣ, H7093 qêts) is not a span of time but "an extremity," a cut-off point. Hebrew says "from the end of twenty year"; the English "at the end of the twenty years" makes the period the subject where the Hebrew makes the terminus the subject.
שָׁנָ֗ה שָׁנָ֗ה (šā·nāh, H8141) stands in the singular after the plural number ʻeśrîm, twenty: the counted-noun idiom. "Years" is correct English and invisible Hebrew.
בֵּיתֽוֹ בֵּיתֽוֹ (bê·ṯōw, H1004 bayith) is the same noun used one word earlier of "the house of the LORD." BSB writes "the house of the LORD and his own palace" and so separates temple from palace; the Hebrew builds both with one word, bayith, and lets the genitive do all the distinguishing.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The parallel passage ( 1Kings 9:11-13 ) records a contrary transaction; that is to say, it represents Solomon as giving to Huram twenty cities in Galilee, as a return for his past services.

Ellicott records the contradiction plainly and then argues, following Josephus, that the two texts are compatible: his final verdict is that Chronicles "replaces the older text by another statement which is equally true, and not incompatible with it."

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Probably however Kin. and Chron. follow different traditions with regard to these border cities, and no reconciliation is possible.

Cambridge takes the opposite view from Ellicott and Josephus. We record both and settle neither.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

which Solomon gave to Huram, who not being pleased with them, 1 Kings 9:12 ,13 , here returns them to him again.

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

liš·lō·mōh bā·nāh wə·he·‘ā·rîm ’ă·šer ḥū·rām nā·ṯan šə·lō·mōh ’ō·ṯām way·yō·wō·šeḇ bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl šām ’eṯ-

Word by word13 · parsed

לִשְׁלֹמֹ֔הliš·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

בָּנָ֥הbā·nāhrebuiltH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

bânâh: to build The whole 1 Kings divergence turns on how much this verb is made to carry. K&D take it as completion of cities that "were in very bad condition"; Cambridge takes it as fortification; Gill takes it as rebuilding "being very much out of repair, which might be one reason of Huram's not accepting them." The verb itself decides none of this.

וְהֶעָרִ֗יםwə·he·‘ā·rîmthe citiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounfeminine plural

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

חוּרָם֙ḥū·rāmHiramH2361

√ Chûwrâm — Churam, the name of an Israelite and two SyriansNounpropermasculine singular

Chûwrâm: Churam, the name of an Israelite and two Syrians Spelled Huram in Chronicles, Hiram in Kings. The Verifier records H2361 as a rare name, present in only 10 verses, and as the lexeme shared with 2 Chronicles 4:11 and 4:16, where Huram is the bronze-worker. Chronicles uses one spelling for the Tyrian king and the Tyrian craftsman alike.

נָתַ֤ןnā·ṯanhad givenH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

nâthan: to give, used with greatest latitude of application The load-bearing word of the divergence. Here Huram gives cities to Solomon; at 1 Kings 9:11 Solomon gives twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram, who "was not pleased with them" and named them the Land of Cabul. The same verb nâthan returns at v. 9, where Solomon does not "give" Israelites to slave labor. The Chronicler's ledger of giving runs in both directions.

שְׁלֹמֹ֖הšə·lō·mōhhimH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

אֹתָ֑ם’ō·ṯāmH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine plural

וַיּ֥וֹשֶׁבway·yō·wō·šeḇand settledH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

yâshab: properly, to sit down In the Hifil, to make others sit: a population transfer. JFB says Solomon, "having wrested them from the possession of the Canaanite inhabitants, repaired them and filled them with a colony of Hebrews"; K&D compare 2 Kings 17:6, the Assyrian deportation, which is a sobering comparison to attach to a verse about Solomon's success.

בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêIsraelitesH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct

יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃yiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

שָׁ֖םšāmthereH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

Literal — word-for-word from the original

and-the-cities which Huram had-given to-Solomon, Solomon built them, and-he-caused-to-dwell there the-sons-of-Israel.

Where the English smooths the original

נָתַ֤ן נָתַ֤ן (nā·ṯan, H5414, Qal perfect) is the plain verb "to give." Ellicott is blunt: "Literally, which Huram gave." The Authorised Version's "restored" and Benson's "had restored" are already an interpretation, imported from 1 Kings 9:12 to make the two accounts agree. BSB's "had given" follows the Hebrew and leaves the divergence standing.
בָּנָ֥ה בָּנָ֥ה (bā·nāh, H1129) is simply "built." BSB reads "rebuilt," and Cambridge glosses "built them ] i.e. fortified them." K&D refuse the fortification sense here: the verb "is not to be understood of the fortification of these cities, but of their completion." The English must choose; the Hebrew does not.
וַיּ֥וֹשֶׁב וַיּ֥וֹשֶׁב (way·yō·wō·šeḇ, H3427 yâshab, Hifil) is causative: "he caused to dwell." K&D: "he caused to dwell there, i.e., transplanted Israelites thither." BSB's "settled Israelites there" is accurate but hides that the same root returns in v. 11, where a wife is moved the other way.
אֹתָ֑ם אֹתָ֑ם (ʼō·ṯām, H853 with third person masculine plural suffix) is the resumptive object: the cities, named first, are then picked up again by a pronoun. K&D call the word order "the result of the aphoristic character of the notice," and read v. 2 as the apodosis of v. 1.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

In an hostile manner, which is the only instance of any warlike expedition of Solomon's.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

conquest of the kingdom of Hamath, which had been on terms of amity with David, is not mentioned in 1 Kings 9; nor indeed anywhere else in the Old Testament.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

signifies at least this, that these tributary kingdoms had either rebelled against Solomon, or at least had made attempts to do so;

K&D's inference is reasonable but it is an inference: the text gives no cause for the campaign, and JFB concede "For what cause the resentment of Solomon was provoked against it, we are not informed."

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Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šə·lō·mōh way·yê·leḵ ḥă·māṯ ṣō·w·ḇāh way·ye·ḥĕ·zaq ‘ā·le·hā

Word by word6 · parsed

שְׁלֹמֹה֙šə·lō·mōhThen SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֵּ֤לֶךְway·yê·leḵwentH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

hâlak: to walk (in a great variety of applications) The neutral verb of going. Gill supplies what the Hebrew does not: Solomon went "In an hostile manner, which is the only instance of any warlike expedition of Solomon's." Cambridge makes the same point from the other side, that though Solomon was a "man of rest" his reign "was not wholly free from war."

חֲמָ֣תḥă·māṯvvvH2578

√ Chămath Tsôwbâh — Chamath-Tsobah

צוֹבָ֔הṣō·w·ḇāhto Hamath-zobahH2578

√ Chămath Tsôwbâh — Chamath-TsobahNounproperfeminine singular

Chămath Tsôwbâh: Chamath-Tsobah A hapax compound; Strong's lists it as its own entry, H2578, distinct from Hamath (H2574) in v. 4. Ellicott notes that this conquest "is not mentioned in 1 Kings 9; nor indeed anywhere else in the Old Testament," which makes v. 3 the Chronicler's own contribution and the one place in the unit where he adds a victory rather than trimming one.

וַיֶּחֱזַ֖קway·ye·ḥĕ·zaqand capturedH2388

√ châzaq — to fasten uponConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

châzaq: to fasten upon The root of strength and of taking hold. K&D read the idiom as evidence of politics: it "signifies at least this, that these tributary kingdoms had either rebelled against Solomon, or at least had made attempts to do so." On that reading the one war in Solomon's reign is a suppression, not an expansion.

עָלֶֽיהָ׃‘ā·le·hāitH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person feminine singular

ʻal: above, over, upon, or against A function word doing heavy idiomatic work; compare the same construction at 2 Chronicles 27:5, which Ellicott and K&D both cite as the parallel.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-went Solomon to-Hamath-Zobah and-he-prevailed upon-her.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיֶּחֱזַ֖ק וַיֶּחֱזַ֖ק (way·ye·ḥĕ·zaq, H2388 châzaq) means "to fasten upon," to be strong. With the preposition ʻal it becomes an idiom: K&D gloss it "to be strong upon, that is, prevail against, conquer," and Ellicott calls the construction "a late construction." BSB's "captured it" reports the outcome; the Hebrew reports a grip.
עָלֶֽיהָ עָלֶֽיהָ (ʻā·le·hā, H5921 with third person feminine singular suffix) is feminine. The thing prevailed upon is a land or kingdom, which is feminine in Hebrew, not a walled town. K&D press exactly this: "Hamath-zobah is not the city Hamath in Zobah, but, as we learn from 2 Chronicles 8:4 , the land or kingdom of Hamath." English "it" erases the clue.
חֲמָ֣ת צוֹבָ֔ה חֲמָ֣ת צוֹבָ֔ה (ḥă·māṯ ṣō·w·ḇāh, H2578) is a compound proper name. Ellicott reads "Hamath bordering on Zobah"; K&D say the two are "bound together as a nomen compos." because they bordered each other; Cambridge suggests "a southern namesake of the well-known Hamath the great." The hyphen in the English conceals a live dispute about geography.

He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yi·ḇen ’eṯ- taḏ·mōr bam·miḏ·bār wə·’êṯ kāl- ham·mis·kə·nō·wṯ ‘ā·rê ’ă·šer bā·nāh ba·ḥă·māṯ

Word by word11 · parsed

וַיִּ֥בֶןway·yi·ḇenHe builtH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

תַּדְמֹ֖רtaḏ·mōrTadmorH8412

√ Tadmôr — Tadmor, a place near PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

Tadmôr: Tadmor, a place near Palestine Ellicott reports that "That Solomon was the founder of Palmyra is the tradition of the country to this day"; Gill adds an Arabic writer, Abulpharagius, who has Solomon building seven cities in his twenty-fourth year, Tadmor among them. Cambridge notes Palmyra is otherwise unheard of until 34 B.C. ⚙ We record the tradition as tradition.

בַּמִּדְבָּ֑רbam·miḏ·bārin the wildernessH4057

√ midbâr — a pasture (iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

midbâr: a pasture The Verifier records H4057 as the lexeme shared with Deuteronomy 2:8 and 1 Kings 9:18; it is a common word (257 verses) and carries no allusion by itself.

וְאֵת֙wə·’êṯin additionH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

כָּל־kāl-to allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הַֽמִּסְכְּנ֔וֹתham·mis·kə·nō·wṯthe storeH4543

√ miçkᵉnâh — a magazineArticleNounfeminine plural

miçkᵉnâh: a magazine Rare: 7 verses. The same rare noun stands behind Exodus 1:11, where taskmasters drive Israel to build "Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh," and behind Hezekiah's storehouses at 2 Chronicles 32:28. ⚙ The Chronicler's vocabulary for Solomon's depots is the vocabulary of Egypt's.

עָרֵ֣י‘ā·rêcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בָּנָ֖הbā·nāhhe had builtH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

bânâh: to build The verb repeats inside the verse: he built Tadmor, and all the store cities which he built. The Chronicler is stacking the same act, not varying it.

בַּחֲמָֽת׃ba·ḥă·māṯin HamathH2574

√ Chămâth — Chamath, a place in SyriaPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

Chămâth: Chamath, a place in Syria Here the plain name (H2574), distinct from the compound Hamath-Zobah of v. 3 (H2578). K&D use this shift to argue that v. 3 conquered a land, since v. 4 can now site cities "in Hamath."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-built Tadmor in-the-wilderness, and all the-storehouse-cities which he-built in-Hamath.

Where the English smooths the original

בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר (bam·miḏ·bār, H4057 midbâr) is "a pasture," open range driven to by flocks, not a sterile waste. "In the wilderness" is the traditional rendering and Ellicott treats the epithet as decisive for identifying Palmyra, but the Hebrew word carries grazing, not desolation.
הַֽמִּסְכְּנ֔וֹת הַֽמִּסְכְּנ֔וֹת (ham·mis·kə·nōwṯ, H4543 miçkᵉnâh) is "a magazine," a depot. The Verifier records it as rare, present in only 7 verses of the Hebrew Bible. BSB's "store cities" is right, and Geneva reads the purpose off it: "Meaning of munitions and treasures for the war."
תַּדְמֹ֖ר תַּדְמֹ֖ר (taḏ·mōr, H8412) is Tadmor. At 1 Kings 9:18 the consonantal text (Kethiv) reads Tamar, with Tadmor only as the marginal Qere, and BSB there prints "Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah." Cambridge argues from that, and from a thousand years of historical silence, that the Solomonic city was "probably a Tamar in the south of Judah." Pulpit answers that the context of Hamath "best suits Tadmor." The name in front of us is Tadmor; the identification is not settled.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Besides these, he made Upper and Nether Beth-horon (see on 1 Chronicles 7:24 ) into fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

He built them as (or into ) fenced cities, viz., walls, doors, and bar ( Micah 7:12 ; Deuteronomy 3:5 ). This description is wanting in Kings.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

They were both in Ephraim ( 1 Chronicles 7:24 ; Joshua 10:10, 11 ; Joshua 16:1-6 ; Joshua 18:13, 14 ), but were assigned to the Kohathite Levites

Worth holding alongside vv. 14 and 15: the two cities Solomon fortifies here were Levitical cities, and the Levites are about to be stationed by David's ordinance.

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He rebuilt Upper and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yi·ḇen ’eṯ- bêṯ hā·‘el·yō·wn wə·’eṯ- bêṯ ḥō·w·rō·wn hat·taḥ·tō·wn ḥō·w·rō·wn mā·ṣō·wr ‘ā·rê ḥō·w·mō·wṯ də·lā·ṯa·yim ū·ḇə·rî·aḥ

Word by word14 · parsed

וַיִּ֜בֶןway·yi·ḇenHe rebuiltH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

בֵּ֤יתbêṯH1032

√ Bêyth Chôwrôwn — Beth-Choron, the name of two adjoining places in PalestinePreposition

הָֽעֶלְי֔וֹןhā·‘el·yō·wnUpperH5945

√ ʻelyôwn — an elevation, iArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

ʻelyôwn: an elevation Upper and Lower Beth-horon are a pair, and the pair is the Chronicler's addition: 1 Kings 9:17 has only the lower city. Ellicott and Cambridge both flag the surplus, and K&D note the mirror-image gap, that Kings has Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer where Chronicles does not.

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

בֵּ֥יתbêṯvvvH1032

√ Bêyth Chôwrôwn — Beth-Choron, the name of two adjoining places in PalestinePreposition

חוֹרוֹן֙ḥō·w·rō·wnH1032

√ Bêyth Chôwrôwn — Beth-Choron, the name of two adjoining places in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

הַתַּחְתּ֑וֹןhat·taḥ·tō·wnand LowerH8481

√ tachtôwn — bottommostArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

חוֹר֖וֹןḥō·w·rō·wnBeth-horonH1032

√ Bêyth Chôwrôwn — Beth-Choron, the name of two adjoining places in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

מָצ֔וֹרmā·ṣō·wras fortifiedH4692

√ mâtsôwr — something hemming in, iNounmasculine singular

mâtsôwr: something hemming in The noun of siege pressure used as a building specification. ⚙ Two verses after the temple's completion the Chronicler is itemizing walls, door-leaves and a bolt: the peace of Solomon is a fortified peace, and the text says so without comment.

עָרֵ֣י‘ā·rêcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct

חוֹמ֖וֹתḥō·w·mō·wṯwith wallsH2346

√ chôwmâh — a wall of protectionNounfeminine plural

chôwmâh: a wall of protection First of the fortification triad. The Pulpit Commentary notes the pass itself: the upper city about four miles from Gibeon, the lower three miles beyond, the road where Cestius Gallus was later defeated and Judas Maccabaeus later won.

דְּלָתַ֥יִםdə·lā·ṯa·yimgatesH1817

√ deleth — something swinging, iNounfd

deleth: something swinging A dual of hinged leaves. The root is mechanical, not architectural: what is named is the swing.

וּבְרִֽיחַ׃ū·ḇə·rî·aḥand barsH1280

√ bᵉrîyach — a boltConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

bᵉrîyach: a bolt The last and smallest item in the triad, and the one the English pluralizes. A city is declared secure by naming one bar.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-built Beth-Horon the-upper and Beth-Horon the-lower, cities-of-siege: walls, double-doors and-bar;

Where the English smooths the original

מָצ֔וֹר מָצ֔וֹר (mā·ṣōwr, H4692 mâtsôwr) is "something hemming in," a siege or siege-work. A "city of siege" is a city built with a siege in view. BSB's "fortified cities" gives the function; the Hebrew names the thing feared. Ellicott notes that this whole description "is wanting in Kings."
דְּלָתַ֥יִם דְּלָתַ֥יִם (də·lā·ṯa·yim, H1817 deleth) is dual, not plural: two leaves, a pair of swinging doors, from a root meaning "something swinging." BSB's "gates" is also the translation used at v. 14 for a different word, shaʻar (H8179); the Hebrew distinguishes the panel from the opening.
וּבְרִֽיחַ וּבְרִֽיחַ (ū·ḇə·rîaḥ, H1280 bᵉrîyach) is a single "bolt," masculine singular. BSB pluralizes to "bars." The triad walls, doors, bar is a fixed formula; Ellicott sends the reader to Micah 7:12 and Deuteronomy 3:5, and BSB at Deuteronomy 3:5 reads "fortified with high walls and gates and bars."
בֵּ֤ית הָֽעֶלְי֔וֹן הָֽעֶלְי֔וֹן (hā·ʻel·yō·wn, H5945 ʻelyôwn) is the adjective "upper," from a root of ascent; it is also, elsewhere, a divine title, Most High. Here it is pure topography, paired with tachtôwn (H8481), "bottommost." Cambridge notes the upper city is "Not mentioned in the parallel passage ( 1 Kings 9:17 )," where BSB reads only "Lower Beth-horon."

as well as Baalath, all the store cities that belonged to Solomon, and all the cities for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’eṯ- ba·‘ă·lāṯ wə·’êṯ kāl- ham·mis·kə·nō·wṯ ‘ā·rê ’ă·šer hā·yū liš·lō·mōh wə·’êṯ kāl- ‘ā·rê hā·re·ḵeḇ wə·’êṯ hap·pā·rā·šîm wə·’êṯ ‘ā·rê kāl- ḥê·šeq šə·lō·mōh ’ă·šer ḥā·šaq liḇ·nō·wṯ bî·rū·šā·lim ū·ḇal·lə·ḇā·nō·wn ū·ḇə·ḵōl ’e·reṣ mem·šal·tōw

Word by word28 · parsed

וְאֶֽת־wə·’eṯ-as well asH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

בַּעֲלָ֗תba·‘ă·lāṯBaalathH1191

√ Baʻălâth — Baalath, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

וְאֵ֨תwə·’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הַֽמִּסְכְּנוֹת֙ham·mis·kə·nō·wṯthe storeH4543

√ miçkᵉnâh — a magazineArticleNounfeminine plural

miçkᵉnâh: a magazine The rare depot-noun of v. 4 returns, now without a region attached. The Verifier records H4543 as the lexeme shared with 2 Chronicles 16:4 and 32:28, the only other Chronicles uses.

עָרֵ֤י‘ā·rêcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

הָי֣וּhā·yūbelonged toH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

לִשְׁלֹמֹ֔הliš·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וְאֵת֙wə·’êṯandH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

עָרֵ֣י‘ā·rêthe citiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct

הָרֶ֔כֶבhā·re·ḵeḇ[for his] chariotsH7393

√ rekeb — a vehicleArticleNounmasculine singular

rekeb: a vehicle Chariot cities. Cambridge sends the reader to 2 Chronicles 1:14 and Pulpit to 1 Kings 4:26 and 9:19. ⚙ The Chronicler records the chariot cities without the evaluation Deuteronomy 17:16 would invite; the silence is his, and we do not fill it for him.

וְאֵ֖תwə·’êṯandH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

הַפָּרָשִׁ֑יםhap·pā·rā·šîmhorsesH6571

√ pârâsh — a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, not single nor for mounting )ArticleNounmasculine plural

pârâsh: a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, not single nor for mounting) Strong's gloss is worth the space: pârâsh is the harnessed animal or its driver, not a saddle-horse. "Horses" in English loses the harness.

וְאֵ֣ת׀wə·’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

עָרֵ֣י‘ā·rêH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct

כָּל־kāl-whateverH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

חֵ֣שֶׁקḥê·šeq. . .H2837

√ chêsheq — delightNounmasculine singular construct

chêsheq: delight Rare, 4 verses. It is the one interior word in a chapter of masonry and manpower: what Solomon wanted is itemized like a city. ⚙ Placed where it is, between the chariot cities and the building programme, chêsheq reads as the engine of the list rather than an aside.

שְׁלֹמֹ֗הšə·lō·mōh[he]H8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֤ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

חָשַׁק֙ḥā·šaqdesiredH2836

√ châshaq — to cling, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

châshaq: to cling The cognate verb of the noun three words earlier: figura etymologica, the Hebrew way of intensifying. Desire that clings is desire that does not let go. ⚙ 1 Kings 11:2 will say that Solomon "clung to these women in love," but the verb there is a different root (dâbaq), so the resonance is thematic and we do not claim a verbal link.

לִבְנ֤וֹתliḇ·nō·wṯto buildH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

בִּירֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙bî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

וּבַלְּבָנ֔וֹןū·ḇal·lə·ḇā·nō·wnLebanonH3844

√ Lᵉbânôwn — Lebanon, a mountain range in PalestineConjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular

וּבְכֹ֖לū·ḇə·ḵōland throughoutH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

אֶ֥רֶץ’e·reṣthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular construct

מֶמְשַׁלְתּֽוֹ׃mem·šal·tōwof his dominionH4475

√ memshâlâh — ruleNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

memshâlâh: rule An abstract of dominion, from mâshal. Ellicott observes that this section omits the fortification of Jerusalem and the building of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer which Kings records; the Chronicler's map of "the land of his dominion" is drawn to a different scale than the older text's.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

and Baalath, and all the-storehouse-cities which were to-Solomon, and all the-cities-of-the-chariot and the-horsemen, and all the-desire of-Solomon which he-clung-to, to-build in-Jerusalem and-in-the-Lebanon and-in-all the-land-of-his-dominion.

Where the English smooths the original

חֵ֣שֶׁק חֵ֣שֶׁק (ḥê·šeq, H2837) is a noun: "delight." The Verifier records it as rare, present in only 4 verses. BSB reads "whatever he desired," turning the noun into a relative clause; the Hebrew first sets down Solomon's delight as a thing in the list, alongside the store cities and the chariot cities, and only then adds the cognate verb.
חָשַׁק֙ חָשַׁק֙ (ḥā·šaq, H2836) is the cognate verb, glossed "to cling." The figure is attachment, not preference. Hebrew says Solomon clung to what he clung to; English says he desired what he desired. Pulpit reads the phrase as building "for purposes of personal enjoyment or ornament."
מֶמְשַׁלְתּֽוֹ מֶמְשַׁלְתּֽוֹ (mem·šal·tōw, H4475 memshâlâh) is an abstract noun, "rule," with a possessive suffix: the land of his ruling. BSB's "the land of his dominion" is faithful; what is easy to miss is that the unit's last geographical word before the Canaanite remnant is a word for power.
הָרֶ֔כֶב הָרֶ֔כֶב (hā·re·ḵeḇ, H7393 rekeb) is a collective singular, "a vehicle," against the plural happārāšîm (H6571) that follows. BSB levels both to plurals. Ellicott notes that this verse is otherwise "identical with 1Kings 9:19 ," except that "Chronicler has twice added all."

As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (these people were not Israelites)—

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kāl- hā·‘ām han·nō·w·ṯār min- ha·ḥit·tî wə·hā·’ĕ·mō·rî wə·hap·pə·riz·zî wə·ha·ḥiw·wî wə·hay·ḇū·sî ’ă·šer lō mî·yiś·rā·’êl hêm·māh

Word by word13 · parsed

כָּל־kāl-As for allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הָ֠עָםhā·‘āmthe peopleH5971

√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular

ʻam: a people (as a congregated unit) Singular throughout. K&D note that bāʻām at the end of v. 10 refers back to this kol-hāʻām, "and denotes the Canaanite people who remained," which means the 250 men are treading among this remnant and not among Israel.

הַנּוֹתָ֨רhan·nō·w·ṯārwho remainedH3498

√ yâthar — to jut over or exceedArticleVerbNifalParticiplemasculine singular

yâthar: to jut over or exceed The Nifal participle of surplus. The same root recurs as a finite Nifal in v. 8 (nōwṯrū, "remained"), so the Chronicler names the remnant twice, once as a state and once as an event. Pulpit hears a confession in it, that the failure of the conquest was "a thing never to be forgotten, if only as a fact."

מִן־min-ofH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הַחִתִּ֜יha·ḥit·tîthe HittitesH2850

√ Chittîy — a Chittite, or descendant of ChethArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְהָאֱמֹרִ֤יwə·hā·’ĕ·mō·rîAmoritesH567

√ ʼĔmôrîy — an Emorite, one of the Canaanitish tribesConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְהַפְּרִזִּי֙wə·hap·pə·riz·zîPerizzitesH6522

√ Pᵉrizzîy — a Perizzite, one of the Canaanitish tribesConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְהַחִוִּ֣יwə·ha·ḥiw·wîHivitesH2340

√ Chivvîy — a Chivvite, one of the aboriginal tribes of PalestineConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְהַיְבוּסִ֔יwə·hay·ḇū·sîand JebusitesH2983

√ Yᵉbûwçîy — a Jebusite or inhabitant of JebusConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֛ר’ă·šerthese peopleH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

לֹ֥אlōwere notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

lôʼ: not A negative particle, but the pivot of the section: the levy is justified in the text by a negative, that these are not of Israel. The same particle opens v. 9 and v. 15.

מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֖לmî·yiś·rā·’êlIsraelitesH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-mNounpropermasculine singular

הֵֽמָּה׃hêm·māh. . .H1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural

hêm: they (only used when emphatic) The clause ends on the pronoun. ⚙ Hebrew word order gives the last stress to the fact of non-membership, and the legal consequence follows in the next verse.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

All the-people the-one-left-over from the-Hittite and-the-Amorite and-the-Perizzite and-the-Hivite and-the-Jebusite, who not from-Israel they,

Where the English smooths the original

הַנּוֹתָ֨ר הַנּוֹתָ֨ר (han·nō·w·ṯār, H3498 yâthar, Nifal participle masculine singular) is the left-over, the surplus. Strong's root sense is "to jut over or exceed." BSB's "who remained" is accurate and colourless; the Hebrew participle names these peoples by what the conquest failed to consume, and it is singular because the people is one unit.
הָ֠עָם הָ֠עָם (hā·ʻām, H5971 ʻam) is singular: "a people (as a congregated unit)." The five ethnic names that follow are also each singular in Hebrew, the Hittite, the Amorite, and so on. English pluralizes all six. The Hebrew is treating them as one corporate remainder, which is why v. 8 can resume with a single mas.
הֵֽמָּה הֵֽמָּה (hêm·māh, H1992) is the emphatic independent pronoun, used, Strong's notes, "only when emphatic," and it closes the clause: "not of Israel, they." BSB puts the clause in parentheses, which is exactly the opposite of emphasis. The same pronoun returns at v. 9 ("because they were his men of war") and again at v. 11, where Ellicott reads it as a neuter singular.
כָּל־ כָּל־ (kāl, H3605) opens the verse with no verb behind it. K&D read the whole verse as "an absolute clause: 'as regards the whole people, those,'" whose predicate does not arrive until way·ya·ʻă·lêm in v. 8. BSB's "As for all the people" catches this well; the sentence is genuinely suspended across two verses.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

suggests payment in money, but, as may be seen from 2 Chronicles 2:17-18 , the subject peoples acknowledged their subjection otherwise, viz., by submitting to do task-work for Solomon.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

those of their sons (i.e., of the descendants of the whole Canaanite people) who had remained in the land, whom the Israelites had not exterminated; Solomon made a levy of these for statute labourers.

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Kings, “were not able to exterminate.” The chronicler’s reading is probably due to the fading of letters in his MS. authority.

Ellicott's explanation is a conjecture about a manuscript he does not describe; we record it as his reading of the divergence, not as an established fact.

source ↗

their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

min- bə·nê·hem ’ă·šer nō·wṯ·rū bā·’ā·reṣ ’a·ḥă·rê·hem ’ă·šer bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl lō- ḵil·lūm šə·lō·mōh way·ya·‘ă·lêm lə·mas ‘aḏ hay·yō·wm haz·zeh

Word by word17 · parsed

מִן־min-H4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

בְּנֵיהֶ֗םbə·nê·hemtheir descendantsH1121

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerwhoH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

נוֹתְר֤וּnō·wṯ·rūremainedH3498

√ yâthar — to jut over or exceedVerbNifalPerfectthird person common plural

yâthar: to jut over or exceed (Nifal) The finite form of v. 7's participle, now with ʼaḥărêhem, "after them": a second generation of the surplus. The levy falls on descendants, not on combatants.

בָּאָ֔רֶץbā·’ā·reṣin the landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular

אַחֲרֵיהֶם֙’a·ḥă·rê·hemH310

√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPrepositionthird person masculine plural

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthose whomH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêthe IsraelitesH1121

יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

לֹֽא־lō-had notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

כִלּ֖וּםḵil·lūmdestroyedH3615

√ kâlâh — to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitived (to complete, prepare, consume)VerbPielPerfectthird person common pluralthird person masculine plural

kâlâh: to end, whether intransitive or transitive A hard verb to have negated. Chronicles says Israel did not finish them off; Kings says Israel was not able to. ⚙ The difference is the difference between a failure of will and a failure of strength, and the two books do not agree.

שְׁלֹמֹה֙šə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַיַּעֲלֵ֤םway·ya·‘ă·lêmconscripted these peopleH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural

ʻâlâh: to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount) In the Hifil, to cause to go up. The unit's most loaded repetition: a people raised to forced labor (v. 8), a wife raised out of David's house (v. 11), offerings raised to the LORD (v. 12). One verb, three ascents.

לְמַ֔סlə·masto be forced laborersH4522

√ maç — properly, a burden (as causing to faint), iPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

maç: properly, a burden (as causing to faint) The word is the weight, not the worker. ⚙ Strong's parenthesis is not rhetorical: the gloss itself defines the burden by its effect on the bearer, which is what the Hebrew names and what "forced laborers" does not. Cambridge warns separately against reading it as a money tribute.

עַ֖ד‘aḏas they are toH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

הַיּ֥וֹםhay·yō·wmthisH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine singular

הַזֶּֽה׃haz·zehdayH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular

zeh: the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that "Until this day" fixes the arrangement as still standing at the time of writing. Pulpit calls the copyist here "too slavish" for carrying the phrase over from the older source; ⚙ the alternative is that the Chronicler means it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

from their-sons who were-left in-the-land after-them, whom not the-sons-of-Israel consumed: Solomon raised-them-up for-a-burden, until this day.

Where the English smooths the original

כִלּ֖וּם כִלּ֖וּם (ḵil·lūm, H3615 kâlâh, Piel perfect with suffix) is "to end, consume, finish off." 1 Kings 9:21 instead says Israel "were unable to devote to destruction." Pulpit calls the Kings reading the charitable one and says "our text shows with exacter fidelity"; Ellicott thinks the Chronicler's reading "is probably due to the fading of letters in his MS. authority." BSB's "had not destroyed" follows Chronicles.
וַיַּעֲלֵ֤ם וַיַּעֲלֵ֤ם (way·ya·ʻă·lêm, H5927 ʻâlâh, Hifil with suffix) is "and he caused them to go up." BSB reads "conscripted these people." The same Hifil of ʻâlâh raises the Egyptian princess in v. 11 and raises the burnt offerings in v. 12; the English uses three different verbs and the Hebrew uses one.
לְמַ֔ס לְמַ֔ס (lə·mas, H4522 maç) names a load, not a person: Strong's has "properly, a burden (as causing to faint)." BSB reads "to be forced laborers." Cambridge warns against the Authorised Version's "tribute" because it "suggests payment in money," where what is meant is task-work; 1 Kings 9:21 has the fuller phrase Ellicott transliterates mas ʻôbēd.
מִן־בְּנֵיהֶ֗ם מִן־בְּנֵיהֶ֗ם (min bə·nê·hem) looks partitive, "some of their sons," and K&D deny that it is: the min "is not partitive ... but is only placed before the ʼăsher," so it means those of their descendants who remained. The preposition is absent in 1 Kings, and K&D refuse to delete it here on that ground.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

whence it appears that though Solomon did not actually reduce any Israelite to permanent slavery, yet he imposed upon his own people a corvée which was felt to be very burdensome.

Cambridge is reading v. 9 against 1 Kings 5:13 and 12:4. It is the most honest note in the brief on this verse: the exemption is from permanent slavery, not from forced labor.

source ↗

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

while the Israelites were employed in no works but such as were of an honorable character.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

According to Diod. Sic. i. 56, Sesostris (Rameses II.), the great Egyptian monarch, was wont to inscribe over the temples he built

The classical parallel is Ellicott's, and we have not verified the citation to Diodorus. Its force is that a native-labour exemption was a standing royal boast in the ancient Near East, not a distinctive of Israel.

source ↗

But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slave labor, because they were his men of war, the leaders of his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·min- šə·lō·mōh lō- nā·ṯan bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl ’ă·šer la·‘ă·ḇā·ḏîm lim·laḵ·tōw kî- hêm·māh ’an·šê mil·ḥā·māh wə·śā·rê šā·lî·šāw wə·śā·rê riḵ·bōw ū·p̄ā·rā·šāw

Word by word18 · parsed

וּמִן־ū·min-ButH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofConjunctive wawPreposition

שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

לֹא־lō-did notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

נָתַ֧ןnā·ṯanconsignH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

nâthan: to give Third occurrence of the unit's giving-verb, and the only negated one. ⚙ The Chronicler's ledger reads: Huram gives cities, Solomon does not give Israelites, Huram sends ships. What is never said to be given is the levy's consent.

בְּנֵי֙bə·nêvvvH1121

יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlany of the IsraelitesH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

אֲ֠שֶׁר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

לַעֲבָדִ֖יםla·‘ă·ḇā·ḏîmto slaveH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantPreposition-lNounmasculine plural

ʻebed: a servant The same noun that names Huram's crews in v. 18 ("his servants") and Solomon's in the same verse. ⚙ One word covers a sailor under contract and a slave under a levy; the Hebrew does not grade it, the context does.

לִמְלַאכְתּ֑וֹlim·laḵ·tōwlaborH4399

√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iPreposition-lNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

mᵉlâʼkâh: properly, deputyship Work done as another's agent. Ellicott notes a textual wrinkle downstream: Kings reads "who were over the work for Solomon" where Chronicles v. 10 reads "to king Solomon," and he judges that mĕlākāh, work, has been corrupted into mèlek, king.

כִּי־kî-becauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

הֵ֜מָּהhêm·māhthey [were]H1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural

אַנְשֵׁ֤י’an·šêhis menH582

√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural construct

מִלְחָמָה֙mil·ḥā·māhof warH4421

√ milchâmâh — a battle (iNounfeminine singular

milchâmâh: a battle Israel's exemption is stated as a military assignment. Ellicott notes that Kings adds "and his servants" after "men of war," which Chronicles omits "as unsuitable, after the preceding statement."

וְשָׂרֵ֣יwə·śā·rêthe leaders ofH8269

√ sar — a head person (of any rank or class)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

שָׁלִישָׁ֔יוšā·lî·šāwhis captainsH7991

√ shâlîysh — a triple, iNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

shâlîysh: a triple A third man, hence an officer of the third rank or a chariot's third rider. The word is a small window on Iron Age military organization, and both Ellicott and K&D think the Chronicles text of it needs correcting from Kings.

וְשָׂרֵ֥יwə·śā·rêand the commandersH8269

√ sar — a head person (of any rank or class)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

רִכְבּ֖וֹriḵ·bōwof his chariotsH7393

√ rekeb — a vehicleNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וּפָרָשָֽׁיו׃פū·p̄ā·rā·šāwand cavalryH6571

√ pârâsh — a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, not single nor for mounting )Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-from the-sons-of-Israel, whom Solomon did-not give for-servants for-his-work: for they were men-of-war and-chiefs-of his-third-men and-chiefs-of his-chariot and-his-horsemen.

Where the English smooths the original

נָתַ֧ן נָתַ֧ן (nā·ṯan, H5414) is the same verb that gave cities in v. 2. BSB renders it "did not consign" here and "had given" there, so the English reader cannot see that the Chronicler uses one word for handing over towns and for handing over men. Hebrew gives cities and does not give Israelites.
שָׁלִישָׁ֔יו שָׁלִישָׁ֔יו (šā·lî·šāw, H7991 shâlîysh) is literally "a triple," the third man in a chariot crew, hence an adjutant. K&D are firm: shālîshîm "are not chariot combatants, but royal adjutants." Ellicott calls the construct chain "captains of his knights" and judges it "incorrect," reading with Kings "his captains and his knights." BSB's "the leaders of his captains" preserves the difficulty.
לִמְלַאכְתּ֑וֹ לִמְלַאכְתּ֑וֹ (lim·laḵ·tōw, H4399 mᵉlâʼkâh) is glossed by Strong's as "properly, deputyship," an errand and so the work done on another's behalf. BSB reads "slave labor" with ʻăbāḏîm. The noun returns as the first word of v. 16, "all the work of Solomon," which is a link the English keeps.
אֲ֠שֶׁר אֲ֠שֶׁר (ʼă·šer, H834) sits after "the sons of Israel" where the syntax does not want a relative pronoun. K&D call it "Much more surprising" than the min of v. 8, note it is absent from 1 Kings 9:22, and explain it by comparison with Psalm 69:27. Ellicott reports that some manuscripts and the ancient versions omit it and suggests "an accidental repetition from the beginning of 2Chronicles 8:8 ."

They were also the chief officers for King Solomon: 250 supervisors.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’êl·leh śā·rê han·nə·ṣī·ḇīm lam·me·leḵ ’ă·šer- šə·lō·mōh ḥă·miš·šîm ū·mā·ṯā·yim hā·rō·ḏîm bā·‘ām

Word by word10 · parsed

וְאֵ֨לֶּהwə·’êl·leh[They]H428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thoseConjunctive wawPronouncommon plural

שָׂרֵ֤יśā·rê[were also] the chiefH8269

√ sar — a head person (of any rank or class)Nounmasculine plural construct

הַנְּצִיבִיםhan·nə·ṣī·ḇīmofficersH5333

√ nᵉtsîyb — something stationary, iArticleVerbNifalParticiplemasculine plural

nᵉtsîyb: something stationary A word for a thing set in place: a garrison, a pillar, a prefect. Ellicott compares 1 Chronicles 18:13 and 2 Chronicles 17:2 for the sense "prefects," and K&D call the Kethiv "the true reading" against a Qere imported from Kings.

לַמֶּ֥לֶךְlam·me·leḵfor KingH4428

√ melek — a kingPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

שְׁלֹמֹ֖הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

חֲמִשִּׁ֣יםḥă·miš·šîm250H2572

√ chămishshîym — fiftyNumbercommon plural

chămishshîym: fifty The first half of the disputed number. Chronicles 250, Kings 550, and the commentators offer four incompatible repairs; the flagged thread records them.

וּמָאתָ֑יִםū·mā·ṯā·yim. . .H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredConjunctive wawNumberfd

הָרֹדִ֖יםhā·rō·ḏîmsupervisorsH7287

√ râdâh — to tread down, iArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

râdâh: to tread down The participle of treading. This is the verb of Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 110:2, used here of 250 men over a conscripted remnant. ⚙ The Chronicler passes no judgement; he chooses the word and moves on, and we think the word is doing work the English "supervisors" cannot.

בָּעָֽם׃bā·‘ām. . .H5971

√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

ʻam: a people The same singular collective as v. 7, closing the section where it opened. The levy begins and ends with one word for the governed.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-these were chiefs-of the-stationed-ones belonging-to-the-king Solomon: fifty and-two-hundred, the-ones-treading among-the-people.

Where the English smooths the original

הַנְּצִיבִים הַנְּצִיבִים (han·nə·ṣī·ḇīm, H5333 nᵉtsîyb) is glossed by Strong's as "something stationary," which is why the same noun elsewhere means a garrison and a pillar as well as a prefect. BSB reads "chief officers." The interlinear parses it as a Nifal participle, the stationed ones. Ellicott and K&D both prefer this Kethiv over the Qere niṣṣābîm that matches 1 Kings 9:23.
הָרֹדִ֖ים הָרֹדִ֖ים (hā·rō·ḏîm, H7287 râdâh, Qal participle) is "to tread down." BSB reads "supervisors"; Ellicott, more bluntly, "They were taskmasters." The verb is the one used of dominion over the creatures, and the Hebrew participle here has men treading among a people.
חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים וּמָאתָ֑יִם חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים וּמָאתָ֑יִם (ḥă·miš·šîm ū·mā·ṯā·yim) is 250, with the units before the hundreds as Hebrew prefers. 1 Kings 9:23 reads 550. The divergence is real and unresolved: see the flagged thread below.
בָּעָֽם בָּעָֽם (bā·ʻām, H5971 with article) is "among the people," and K&D insist it "refers to kol-hāʻām, 2 Chronicles 8:7 , and denotes the Canaanite people who remained." BSB's "supervisors" leaves the object implicit; 1 Kings 9:23 spells it out as "supervisors over the people who did the work."

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Not because every place where once the ark came was thereby consecrated to God

Poole's objection is the sharpest theology in the brief on this verse: if contact with the ark permanently consecrated a place, then Obed-edom's house would be uninhabitable. He therefore offers two narrower explanations instead.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The motive here assigned is wanting in the other text, and is characteristic of the chronicler both in thought and language

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

he felt that she being a heathen proselyte, and having brought from her own country an establishment of heathen maid-servants, there would have been an impropriety in her being domiciled in a mansion which was or had been hallowed by the reception of the ark.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

It sometimes requires more wisdom and resolution to govern a family in the fear of God, than to govern a kingdom with reputation.

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Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her. For he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’eṯ- šə·lō·mōh he·‘ĕ·lāh baṯ- par·‘ōh mê·‘îr dā·wîḏ lab·ba·yiṯ ’ă·šer bā·nāh- lāh kî ’ā·mar ’iš·šāh lî lō- ṯê·šêḇ bə·ḇêṯ dā·wîḏ me·leḵ- yiś·rā·’êl kî- hêm·māh ’ă·šer- ’ă·rō·wn Yah·weh bā·’āh ’ă·lê·hem qō·ḏeš

Word by word29 · parsed

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

שְׁלֹמֹה֙šə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

הֶעֱלָ֤הhe·‘ĕ·lāhbroughtH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâlâh: to ascend (Hifil: to cause to mount) The move is upward in more than one sense: out of the lower city of David and into the new palace quarter. Pulpit places the geography, the Tyropoeon valley between the temple hill and Solomon's palace on the western side.

בַּת־baṯ-the daughterH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct

פַּרְעֹ֗הpar·‘ōhof PharaohH6547

√ Parʻôh — Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kingsNounpropermasculine singular

מֵעִ֣ירmê·‘îrup from the CityH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Preposition-mNounfeminine singular construct

דָּוִ֔ידdā·wîḏof DavidH1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular

לַבַּ֖יִתlab·ba·yiṯto the palaceH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בָּֽנָה־bā·nāh-he had builtH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

לָ֑הּlāhfor her

Prepositionthird person feminine singular

כִּ֣יkîForH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

אָמַ֗ר’ā·marhe saidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

אִשָּׁ֥ה’iš·šāhMy wifeH802

√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine singular

ʼishshâh: a woman Indefinite and without the article. Cambridge's "No wife of mine" is the sense. Henry hears a marriage in it rather than a rubric, and observes that the difficulty of governing a household "is increased, when a man has a hinderance instead of a help meet in the wife of his bosom."

לִי֙lî. . .

Prepositionfirst person common singular

לֹא־lō-must notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תֵשֵׁ֨בṯê·šêḇliveH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular

yâshab: properly, to sit down Qal here, Hifil in v. 2. A verse about who may sit where.

בְּבֵית֙bə·ḇêṯin the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

דָּוִ֣ידdā·wîḏof DavidH1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular

מֶֽלֶךְ־me·leḵ-kingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

כִּי־kî-becauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

הֵ֔מָּהhêm·māhthe placesH1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural

hêm: they (only used when emphatic) Ellicott and K&D both read this plural as a neuter singular in the Chronicler's idiom, so the sense is "a holy thing is that unto which the ark has come." BSB supplies "the places," which is interpretation carried into the text.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אֲר֥וֹן’ă·rō·wnthe arkH727

√ ʼârôwn — a boxNouncommon singular construct

ʼârôwn: a box Strong's gloss is deliberately plain. The whole argument of the verse rests on this box having been somewhere: holiness is treated as a property transferred by contact, which is precisely what Poole will not let stand as a general rule.

יְהוָֽה׃פYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

בָּֽאָ֥הbā·’āhhas enteredH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular

אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם’ă·lê·hemH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionthird person masculine plural

קֹ֣דֶשׁqō·ḏešare holyH6944

√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingNounmasculine singular

qôdesh: a sacred place or thing The theological pivot of the verse, and the only occurrence of the root in the unit. ⚙ Solomon's reasoning is real reasoning about holiness, and it is also an administrative solution: the wife is rehoused, not catechized. Benson notes she had been "proselyted to the Jewish religion, and had renounced idolatry," yet the remedy is architectural.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And the-daughter-of-Pharaoh Solomon brought-up from the-city-of-David to-the-house which he-built for-her; for he-said: A-wife to-me shall-not dwell in-the-house-of-David king-of-Israel, for holy they, those-to-which the-ark-of-YHWH has-come.

Where the English smooths the original

הֶעֱלָ֤ה הֶעֱלָ֤ה (he·ʻĕ·lāh, H5927 ʻâlâh, Hifil perfect) is "he caused to go up," the third of the unit's three ascents. BSB reads "brought ... up," which is right, and 1 Kings 9:24 puts the same move in the passive, "As soon as Pharaoh's daughter had come up from the City of David." Ellicott notes the Kings notice "is much briefer than the present notice."
אִשָּׁ֥ה לִי֙ אִשָּׁ֥ה לִי֙ (ʼiš·šāh lî, H802 plus preposition) is "a woman to me," indefinite. Cambridge renders it "No wife of mine shall dwell," and the indefiniteness matters: the ruling is stated as a class rule, not as a complaint about one person.
קֹ֣דֶשׁ קֹ֣דֶשׁ (qō·ḏeš, H6944) is a noun, "a sacred place or thing," not an adjective. The clause is a nominal sentence: holiness is they. BSB's "are holy" is the right English for it. Ellicott notes that the plural pronoun hēmmāh here "is equivalent to a neuter-sing, in the usage of the chronicler," and K&D say the same.
תֵשֵׁ֨ב תֵשֵׁ֨ב (ṯê·šêḇ, H3427 yâshab, Qal imperfect third feminine singular) is the plain "sit, dwell" whose Hifil in v. 2 settled Israelites into Huram's cities. ⚙ The unit's one verb of settlement moves Israelites in and moves an Egyptian out.

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Alexander MaclarenExpositions of Holy Scripturec. 1905

There were, then, these characteristics in the ritual of Solomon’s Temple, precise compliance with the Divine commandment, unbroken continuity, and beautiful flexibility and variety of method.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Such an act, according to the Chronicler, was of the nature of trespass, being punished in the case of Uzziah with leprosy ( 2 Chronicles 26:16 ), and was therefore not to be attributed to such a king as Solomon.

Cambridge is describing the Chronicler's theology of the priesthood as an editorial motive. It is an argument about why the text reads as it does, and it should be weighed as that rather than as a report of what Solomon did.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Not once, but habitually; according to the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

He no longer now sacrifices upon the altar of the tabernacle at Gibeon, as in the beginning of his reign

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At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD he had built in front of the portico.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’āz šə·lō·mōh he·‘ĕ·lāh ‘ō·lō·wṯ Yah·weh ‘al miz·baḥ Yah·weh ’ă·šer bā·nāh lip̄·nê hā·’ū·lām

Word by word12 · parsed

אָ֣ז’āzAt that timeH227

√ ʼâz — at that time or placeAdverb

ʼâz: at that time or place A hinge with no date in it. ⚙ The Chronicler uses ʼāz twice in this unit, at v. 12 and v. 17, and in both places the commentators have to supply the chronology from elsewhere.

שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

הֶעֱלָ֧הhe·‘ĕ·lāhofferedH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâlâh: to ascend (Hifil) The last of the three Hifil ascents. The same causative that raised a levy and moved a wife now raises offerings, and here alone the object is "to the LORD."

עֹל֖וֹת‘ō·lō·wṯburnt offeringsH5930

√ ʻôlâh — a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending)Nounfeminine plural

ʻôlâh: a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending) Strong's entry for H5930 gives the root sense of ascent, which is what the burnt offering is named for: the whole animal going up in smoke. Placed against v. 8's forced ascent, the word carries the unit's one voluntary going-up.

לַיהוָ֑הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

עַ֚ל‘alonH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

מִזְבַּ֣חmiz·baḥthe altarH4196

√ mizbêach — an altarNounmasculine singular construct

mizbêach: an altar The brazen altar of 2 Chronicles 4:1, built by Solomon and standing in the court. Cambridge's note is the important one: where Kings has Solomon burning incense, Chronicles has him offering on the outer altar, because for the Chronicler a king at the incense altar is Uzziah's trespass.

יְהוָ֔הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בָּנָ֖הbā·nāhhe had builtH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

לִפְנֵ֥יlip̄·nêin frontH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct

הָאוּלָֽם׃hā·’ū·lāmof the porticoH197

√ ʼûwlâm — a vestibule (as bound to the building)ArticleNounmasculine singular

ʼûwlâm: a vestibule (as bound to the building) Strong's parenthesis is architectural: the porch is not a separate structure but bound to the house. The altar stands before it, outside, which is exactly the point Cambridge presses about who may go in.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Then Solomon caused-to-go-up ascending-offerings to-YHWH upon the-altar-of-YHWH which he-built before the-vestibule,

Where the English smooths the original

עֹל֖וֹת עֹל֖וֹת (ʻō·lōwṯ, H5930 ʻôlâh) is built from ʻâlâh, to go up: the offering is named for its ascent, not for its fire. BSB's "burnt offerings" names the fire. Note the Hebrew pairing in this verse: heʻĕlāh ʻōlôṯ, he caused to ascend ascendings, and the English cannot keep it.
אָ֣ז אָ֣ז (ʼāz, H227) is a bare adverb, "at that time or place." It does not say which time. Ellicott takes it as "After the consecration of the Temple"; K&D as "when the temple building had been finished and the temple dedicated"; Gill insists the verse means "not barely at the time he rebuilt the above cities, for it was his constant practice." The same adverb opens v. 17, where K&D use it to date the Ophir voyage to "the second half of Solomon's reign."
הָאוּלָֽם הָאוּלָֽם (hā·ʼū·lām, H197 ʼûwlâm) is "a vestibule (as bound to the building)," the entrance hall. BSB reads "the portico." Ellicott notes that this detail, "Before the porch," is "Not in Kings": the Chronicler is siting the altar, and Cambridge explains why that matters.
מִזְבַּ֣ח מִזְבַּ֣ח (miz·baḥ, H4196) is the place of slaughter, from zâbach. Gill and Cambridge both identify it as the great brazen altar of 2 Chronicles 4:1, not the incense altar, and 1 Kings 9:25 says Solomon burnt incense. Cambridge treats that as the reason Chronicles rewrote the verse.

He observed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yō·wm bə·yō·wm ū·ḇiḏ·ḇar- lə·ha·‘ă·lō·wṯ kə·miṣ·waṯ mō·šeh laš·šab·bā·ṯō·wṯ wə·le·ḥo·ḏā·šîm šā·lō·wōš pə·‘ā·mîm baš·šā·nāh wə·lam·mō·w·‘ă·ḏō·wṯ bə·ḥaḡ ham·maṣ·ṣō·wṯ ū·ḇə·ḥaḡ haš·šā·ḇu·‘ō·wṯ ū·ḇə·ḥaḡ has·suk·kō·wṯ

Word by word18 · parsed

י֣וֹםyō·wmHe observed the dailyH3117

yôwm: a day (as the warm hours) Repeated twice in the idiom and twice again in v. 14. ⚙ The Chronicler's rhythm for the temple is not the festal calendar first but the day: the three annual feasts arrive only after the daily rate is stated.

בְּי֗וֹםbə·yō·wm. . .H3117

וּבִדְבַר־ū·ḇiḏ·ḇar-requirementH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

dâbâr: a word The same noun returns in v. 14 ("the matter of a day in its day") and v. 15 ("in any matter"). One word carries the prescription, the schedule and the scope of obedience.

לְהַעֲלוֹת֙lə·ha·‘ă·lō·wṯfor offeringsH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Preposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct

כְּמִצְוַ֣תkə·miṣ·waṯaccording to the commandmentH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)Preposition-kNounfeminine singular construct

mitsvâh: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law) Here "the commandment of Moses"; at v. 14 "the command of David"; at v. 15 "the command of the king." ⚙ The Chronicler uses one noun for all three, and that is how David's arrangements acquire the weight Benson and Poole ascribe to them.

מֹשֶׁ֔הmō·šehof MosesH4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

לַשַּׁבָּתוֹת֙laš·šab·bā·ṯō·wṯfor SabbathsH7676

√ shabbâth — intermission, iPreposition-l, ArticleNouncommon plural

וְלֶ֣חֳדָשִׁ֔יםwə·le·ḥo·ḏā·šîmNew MoonsH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine plural

שָׁל֥וֹשׁšā·lō·wōšand the threeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumberfeminine singular

פְּעָמִ֖יםpə·‘ā·mîm. . .H6471

√ paʻam — a stroke, literally or figuratively (in various applications, as follow)Nounfeminine plural

בַּשָּׁנָ֑הbaš·šā·nāhannualH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular

וְלַמּ֣וֹעֲד֔וֹתwə·lam·mō·w·‘ă·ḏō·wṯappointed feastsH4150

√ môwʻêd — properly, an appointment, iConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine plural

môwʻêd: properly, an appointment An appointed meeting, hence a festival. The plural form here is unique in the Hebrew Bible according to Ellicott. Gill notes that the three named feasts "serve to explain the three times in 1 Kings 9:25 ," where the older text says only "Three times a year."

בְּחַ֧גbə·ḥaḡthe FeastH2282

√ chag — a festival, or a victim thereforPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

הַמַּצּ֛וֹתham·maṣ·ṣō·wṯof Unleavened BreadH4682

√ matstsâh — properly, sweetnessArticleNounfeminine plural

matstsâh: properly, sweetness Strong's derives the word for unleavened bread from a root of sweetness, that is, bread without the sourness of ferment. The feast is named for what is absent from the dough.

וּבְחַ֥גū·ḇə·ḥaḡthe FeastH2282

√ chag — a festival, or a victim thereforConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

הַשָּׁבֻע֖וֹתhaš·šā·ḇu·‘ō·wṯof WeeksH7620

√ shâbûwaʻ — literally, sevened, iArticleNounmasculine plural

וּבְחַ֥גū·ḇə·ḥaḡand the FeastH2282

√ chag — a festival, or a victim thereforConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

הַסֻּכּֽוֹת׃has·suk·kō·wṯof TabernaclesH5521

√ çukkâh — a hut or lairArticleNounfeminine plural

çukkâh: a hut or lair Booths, not tabernacles. Geneva simply sends the reader to Leviticus 23, which is the right instinct: the Chronicler is checking Solomon's practice against a written calendar.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

and in-the-matter-of a-day in-its-day, to-cause-to-go-up according-to-the-commandment-of Moses: for-the-Sabbaths and-for-the-New-Moons and-for-the-appointed-times, three times in-the-year, in-the-Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread and-in-the-Feast-of-Weeks and-in-the-Feast-of-Booths.

Where the English smooths the original

י֣וֹם בְּי֗וֹם י֣וֹם בְּי֗וֹם (yō·wm bə·yō·wm) is the distributive idiom, "a day in its day," repeating the noun instead of using a word for "daily." BSB reads "the daily requirement." Ellicott renders it literally, "and with a day's matter on a day," and cites Leviticus 23:37, which BSB gives as "each on its designated day."
וּבִדְבַר־ וּבִדְבַר־ (ū·ḇiḏ·ḇar, H1697 dâbâr) is "word" or "matter," not "requirement." BSB reads "requirement," which states the effect. K&D parse the preposition as a beth essentiae, "consisting in the daily (rate) to sacrifice," and read the waw as explicative.
וְלַמּ֣וֹעֲד֔וֹת וְלַמּ֣וֹעֲד֔וֹת (wə·lam·mōw·ʻă·ḏōwṯ, H4150 môwʻêd) is "properly, an appointment": fixed meeting-times, which Ellicott renders "set seasons." BSB reads "appointed feasts." Ellicott adds a form-critical note: "(The form mô'adôth for mô'adîm occurs here only.)"
הַסֻּכּֽוֹת הַסֻּכּֽוֹת (has·suk·kōwṯ, H5521 çukkâh) is "a hut or lair," a shelter of branches. "Tabernacles" is Latin by way of the Vulgate and suggests the tent-sanctuary; the Hebrew word is the temporary booth a farmer sleeps in, which is the whole point of the feast.

In keeping with the ordinances of his father David, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, and the Levites for their duties to offer praise and to minister before the priests according to the daily requirement. He also appointed gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kə·miš·paṭ ’ā·ḇîw ’eṯ- dā·wîḏ- way·ya·‘ă·mêḏ maḥ·lə·qō·wṯ hak·kō·hă·nîm ‘al- ‘ă·ḇō·ḏā·ṯām wə·hal·wî·yim ‘al- miš·mə·rō·w·ṯām lə·hal·lêl ū·lə·šā·rêṯ ne·ḡeḏ hak·kō·hă·nîm yō·wm bə·yō·w·mōw liḏ·ḇar- wə·haš·šō·w·‘ă·rîm bə·maḥ·lə·qō·w·ṯām lə·ša·‘ar wā·šā·‘ar kî ḵên miṣ·waṯ dā·wîḏ ’îš- hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm

Word by word29 · parsed

כְּמִשְׁפַּ֣טkə·miš·paṭIn keeping with the ordinancesH4941

√ mishpâṭ — properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penaltyPreposition-kNounmasculine singular construct

mishpâṭ: properly, a verdict pronounced judicially ⚙ The strongest word in the verse and the easiest to walk past. Solomon does not follow his father's preference; he executes his father's judicial decree. That is the grammatical ground for Benson's claim that Solomon "did not attempt to amend, alter, or add to" it.

אָ֠בִיו’ā·ḇîwof his fatherH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

דָּֽוִיד־dā·wîḏ-DavidH1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular

וַיַּעֲמֵ֣דway·ya·‘ă·mêḏ[Solomon] appointedH5975

√ ʻâmad — to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâmad: to stand, in various relations (Hifil: to cause to stand) Ellicott compares 1 Chronicles 6:16 and 1 Chronicles 15:16 for the usage; the second of those is David telling the Levite leaders to appoint singers, which is the same act being repeated here. The verb belongs to the Chronicler's vocabulary of liturgical appointment.

מַחְלְק֨וֹתmaḥ·lə·qō·wṯthe divisionsH4256

√ machălôqeth — a section (of Levites, people or soldiers)Nounfeminine plural construct

machălôqeth: a section (of Levites, people or soldiers) The technical noun for a rota. Strong's gloss shows the word covers military and cultic rotations alike; K&D and Gill both send the reader to 1 Chronicles 24 to 26 for the lists.

הַכֹּהֲנִ֜יםhak·kō·hă·nîmof the priestsH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural

עַל־‘al-overH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

עֲבֹדָתָ֗ם‘ă·ḇō·ḏā·ṯāmtheir serviceH5656

√ ʻăbôdâh — work of any kindNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

וְהַלְוִיִּ֣םwə·hal·wî·yimand the LevitesH3881

√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural

עַל־‘al-forH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

מִ֠שְׁמְרוֹתָםmiš·mə·rō·w·ṯāmtheir dutiesH4931

√ mishmereth — watch, iNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural

mishmereth: watch, ward, station Guard duty. The same noun stands at 2 Chronicles 7:6, which K&D cite, so the Chronicler has just used it of the dedication itself.

לְהַלֵּ֨לlə·hal·lêlto offer praiseH1984

√ hâlal — to be clear (origPreposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

hâlal: to be clear (originally) To shine, hence to praise audibly. Ellicott sends the reader to 1 Chronicles 25:3, the singers' roster. ⚙ Praise enters this unit as a scheduled assignment with a rota, which is not less worship for being organized.

וּלְשָׁרֵ֜תū·lə·šā·rêṯand to ministerH8334

√ shârath — to attend as a menial or worshipperConjunctive waw, Preposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

shârath: to attend as a menial or worshipper Strong's gloss holds both senses at once, servant and worshipper, and the Levites' position is exactly that ambiguity: they minister "before the priests," not before the altar.

נֶ֤גֶדne·ḡeḏbeforeH5048

√ neged — a front, iPreposition

הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙hak·kō·hă·nîmthe priestsH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural

י֣וֹםyō·wmaccording to the dailyH3117

בְּיוֹמ֔וֹbə·yō·w·mōw. . .H3117

לִדְבַר־liḏ·ḇar-requirementH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

וְהַשּׁוֹעֲרִ֥יםwə·haš·šō·w·‘ă·rîm[He also appointed] gatekeepersH7778

√ shôwʻêr — a janitorConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine plural

בְּמַחְלְקוֹתָ֖םbə·maḥ·lə·qō·w·ṯāmby their divisionsH4256

√ machălôqeth — a section (of Levites, people or soldiers)Preposition-bNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural

לְשַׁ֣עַרlə·ša·‘arat each gateH8179

√ shaʻar — an opening, iPreposition-lNounmasculine singular

וָשָׁ֑עַרwā·šā·‘ar. . .H8179

√ shaʻar — an opening, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

כִּ֣יkîforH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

כֵ֔ןḵênthisH3651

√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb

מִצְוַ֖תmiṣ·waṯhad been the commandH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)Nounfeminine singular construct

דָּוִ֥ידdā·wîḏof DavidH1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular

אִישׁ־’îš-the manH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular construct

ʼîysh: a man as an individual "The man of God." Barnes notes this title is "rare in Chronicles," applied only to Moses, to David, and to one unnamed prophet; Pulpit counts the occurrences. Cambridge records the Targum's paraphrase, "David the prophet of the Lord."

הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃hā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural

ʼĕlôhîym: gods in the ordinary sense Morphologically plural, construed as singular, and here in construct with ʼîysh: the man of God. Benson draws the consequence the Chronicler intends, that David's commands "are represented as being the commands of God."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-according-to-the-judgement-of David his-father he-caused-to-stand the-divisions-of the-priests over their-service, and-the-Levites over their-watches, to-praise and-to-minister before the-priests, the-matter-of-a-day in-its-day; and-the-gatekeepers by-their-divisions at-gate and-gate, for so was-the-commandment-of David the-man-of-God.

Where the English smooths the original

כְּמִשְׁפַּ֣ט כְּמִשְׁפַּ֣ט (kə·miš·paṭ, H4941 mishpâṭ) is courtroom vocabulary: Strong's has "properly, a verdict ... pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree." BSB reads "In keeping with the ordinances," and Cambridge prefers the Revised Version's "according to the ordinance." What the English cannot carry is that David's liturgical arrangement is named with the word for a legal ruling.
וַיַּעֲמֵ֣ד וַיַּעֲמֵ֣ד (way·ya·ʻă·mêḏ, H5975 ʻâmad, Hifil) is "he caused to stand." Ellicott glosses it exactly so: "Caused to stand." BSB reads "appointed," which is the administrative result and loses the posture. The priests are set on their feet at their stations.
מִ֠שְׁמְרוֹתָם מִ֠שְׁמְרוֹתָם (miš·mə·rō·w·ṯām, H4931 mishmereth) is a watch, a guard-post. Ellicott gives three renderings, "Watches, wards, stations." BSB reads "duties." The root is shâmar, to keep guard, so the Levites' service is framed as sentry duty at the house.
לְהַלֵּ֨ל לְהַלֵּ֨ל (lə·hal·lêl, H1984 hâlal, Piel infinitive) is "to be clear (originally)," hence to shine and so to make a sound that shines: to praise loudly. It is the root behind Hallelujah. BSB's "to offer praise" is decorous; the Hebrew verb is a noise.

They did not turn aside from the king’s command regarding the priests or the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·lō sā·rū ham·me·leḵ miṣ·waṯ ‘al- hak·kō·hă·nîm wə·hal·wî·yim lə·ḵāl dā·ḇār wə·lā·’ō·ṣā·rō·wṯ

Word by word10 · parsed

וְלֹ֣אwə·lōThey did notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

סָרוּ֩sā·rūturn asideH5493

√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

çûwr: to turn off (literal or figurative) The standard verb of apostasy in Kings and Chronicles, used here in the negative as a commendation. ⚙ Note what the compliance is measured against: not the law of Moses directly but a royal ordinance, which v. 14 has already grounded in David as "the man of God."

הַמֶּ֜לֶךְham·me·leḵfrom the king’sH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

מִצְוַ֨תmiṣ·waṯcommandH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)Nounfeminine singular construct

mitsvâh: a command, whether human or divine Third occurrence in three verses (Moses in v. 13, David in v. 14, the king here). Strong's parenthesis, "whether human or divine," is precisely the ambiguity Benson and Poole resolve in David's favour.

עַל־‘al-regardingH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הַכֹּהֲנִ֧יםhak·kō·hă·nîmthe priestsH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural

וְהַלְוִיִּ֛םwə·hal·wî·yimor the LevitesH3881

√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural

לְכָל־lə·ḵālin anyH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

דָּבָ֖רdā·ḇārmatterH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine singular

dâbâr: a word "In any matter," the scope clause. Gill applies it concretely: whatever related to the office of sacrificers, singers or porters.

וְלָאֹצָרֽוֹת׃wə·lā·’ō·ṣā·rō·wṯincluding that of the treasuriesH214

√ ʼôwtsâr — a depositoryConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine plural

ʼôwtsâr: a depository The last noun in the section on worship is a storeroom. Ellicott and JFB both send the reader to 1 Chronicles 26:20 to 28 for the Levites who kept the treasuries; Gill notes that these men "were faithful to their trust." ⚙ The Chronicler ends his account of obedience with the money, which is a decision about what obedience is tested by.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-they-did-not turn-aside the-commandment-of the-king concerning the-priests and-the-Levites, for-any matter and-for-the-treasuries.

Where the English smooths the original

סָרוּ֩ סָרוּ֩ (sā·rū, H5493 çûwr) is "to turn off." The Hebrew as it stands has no preposition before the command, so K&D take the verb as construed with a direct object, meaning "to transgress a command," and refuse to emend. Ellicott takes the opposite view: "From has fallen out of the Heb. text, and must be restored," citing three manuscripts and the versions. BSB reads "turn aside from," following Ellicott's line.
וְלָאֹצָרֽוֹת וְלָאֹצָרֽוֹת (wə·lā·ʼō·ṣā·rōwṯ, H214 ʼôwtsâr) is "a depository," a store-chamber. BSB reads "the treasuries." Ellicott renders the clause "With reference to any matter and (especially) with reference to the treasures," which makes the treasuries the emphatic item rather than an afterthought.
מִצְוַ֨ת הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ מִצְוַ֨ת הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ (miṣ·waṯ ham·me·leḵ) is "the command of the king," and the Hebrew does not say which king. Ellicott and Pulpit both read David: Pulpit, "Considering the last clause of the previous verse, the king probably designs David, not Solomon." Gill reads Solomon's command given "according to the order of David." BSB leaves it open as "the king's command."

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

The work was the main matter, not the place; the temple was unfinished till all this was done.

source ↗

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Only when the regular worship according to the law of Moses, and with the arrangements as to the service of the priests and Levites established by David, had been commenced, was Solomon's work in connection with the temple completed

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

there was no remitting of diligence and care from the beginning to the end of the grand undertaking.

source ↗

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

LXX offers a much shorter and smoother text, from the day on which it was founded until Solomon perfected the house of the Lord . This reading is probably right.

Cambridge prefers a Greek reading over the Hebrew here. Ellicott reaches a similar sense by a different route, suggesting the Chronicler's ʻad ha-yôm functions as a terminus a quo; the Hebrew as transmitted reads "unto."

source ↗

Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out, from the day the foundation was laid for the house of the LORD until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kāl- mə·le·ḵeṯ šə·lō·mōh wat·tik·kōn ‘aḏ- hay·yō·wm mū·saḏ bêṯ- Yah·weh wə·‘aḏ- kə·lō·ṯōw bêṯ Yah·weh šā·lêm

Word by word14 · parsed

כָּל־kāl-Thus allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

מְלֶ֣אכֶתmə·le·ḵeṯthe workH4399

√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iNounfeminine singular construct

mᵉlâʼkâh: properly, deputyship, i.e. ministry, employment The same noun that named the labour Israel was exempted from in v. 9 now names the whole achievement: "all the work of Solomon." ⚙ The Chronicler closes the account with the word he used for the thing other men carried.

שְׁלֹמֹ֔הšə·lō·mōhof SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַתִּכֹּן֙wat·tik·kōnwas carried outH3559

√ kûwn — properly, to be erect (iConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular

kûwn: properly, to be erect A verb of standing upright and so of being established. Pulpit counts eight Niphal occurrences in Chronicles and reads the sense as uninterrupted order from the beginning of the work to the end.

עַד־‘aḏ-fromH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

הַיּ֛וֹםhay·yō·wmthe dayH3117

מוּסַ֥דmū·saḏthe foundation was laidH4143

√ mûwçâd — a foundationNounmasculine singular construct

mûwçâd: a foundation Rare: 2 verses in the whole Hebrew Bible, the other being Isaiah 28:16, "a sure foundation." The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme. See the thread below; the link is lexical, not a citation.

בֵּית־bêṯ-for the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

וְעַד־wə·‘aḏ-untilH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Conjunctive wawPreposition

כְּלֹת֑וֹkə·lō·ṯōwit was finishedH3615

√ kâlâh — to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitived (to complete, prepare, consume)VerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular

kâlâh: to end, whether intransitive or transitive The same root that, in the Piel at v. 8, was what Israel failed to do to the Canaanites. Here, in the Qal infinitive with a suffix, it is the finishing of the house. ⚙ One root for an unfinished extermination and a finished temple.

בֵּ֥יתbêṯSo the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוָֽה׃סYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

שָׁלֵ֖םšā·lêmwas completedH8003

√ shâlêm — complete (literally or figuratively)Adjectivemasculine singular

shâlêm: complete (literally or figuratively) The verdict-word of the unit, cognate with shalom and with Solomon's name. Its placement is the argument: it lands after the priests are standing, the Levites are watching, the gatekeepers are posted and the daily rate is running, not after the masonry. Henry and K&D both read it that way and we think the syntax requires it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-all the-work-of Solomon was-set-firm, until the-day of-the-foundation-of the-house-of-YHWH and-until its-completion: the-house-of-YHWH was-whole.

Where the English smooths the original

וַתִּכֹּן֙ וַתִּכֹּן֙ (wat·tik·kōn, H3559 kûwn, Nifal) is from a root meaning "properly, to be erect," hence to be established, set firm. BSB reads "was carried out." Ellicott glosses "Prepared = completed" and calls it "a late use of the word nākôn"; Pulpit reads "steadily ordered"; Poole and Benson read it of materials "procured, and in all points squared, and fitted, and completed beforehand." Three different verbs in English for one Nifal.
מוּסַ֥ד מוּסַ֥ד (mū·saḏ, H4143 mûwçâd) is "a foundation." The Verifier records it in only two verses of the Hebrew Bible; the other is Isaiah 28:16. BSB reads "the foundation was laid," turning the noun into a clause.
שָׁלֵ֖ם שָׁלֵ֖ם (šā·lêm, H8003) is an adjective, "complete (literally or figuratively)," from the root of shalom and of Solomon's own name, Shᵉlômôh. BSB reads "was completed." K&D press against that: the word "does not signify 'ended,' or to be at an end, but to be set thoroughly (perfectly) in order."
עַד־הַיּ֛וֹם עַד־הַיּ֛וֹם (ʻaḏ hay·yōwm) reads "unto the day," not "from the day." BSB reads "from the day." Ellicott is candid about the difficulty: the Hebrew is "unto that day of the foundation," while "All the versions, however, understand from the day of the foundation unto the completion," and Cambridge prefers the shorter LXX text as "probably right."

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Solomon, determined to cultivate the arts of peace, was sagacious enough to perceive that his kingdom could become great and glorious only by encouraging a spirit of commercial enterprise among his subjects

JFB are constructing a policy rationale the text does not give. The verse reports a journey and a location, nothing about motive.

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The words of our text do not necessarily imply a personal visit on the part of Solomon. He sent his shipwrights to the Idumean port.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

the date of this voyage is made to fall in the period after the building of the temple and the palace, i.e., in the second half of Solomon's reign.

source ↗

Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the coast of Edom.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’āz šə·lō·mōh hā·laḵ lə·‘eṣ·yō·wn- ge·ḇer wə·’el- ’ê·lō·wṯ ‘al- śə·p̄aṯ hay·yām bə·’e·reṣ ’ĕ·ḏō·wm

Word by word12 · parsed

אָז֩’āzThenH227

√ ʼâz — at that time or placeAdverb

ʼâz: at that time or place The unit's second undated hinge. K&D use it to place the voyage "in the period after the building of the temple and the palace, i.e., in the second half of Solomon's reign."

שְׁלֹמֹ֜הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

הָלַ֨ךְhā·laḵwentH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

hâlak: to walk (in a great variety of applications) The same verb as v. 3, where Solomon "went" to Hamath-Zobah. ⚙ The Chronicler's two journeys for Solomon are a campaign and a port visit, and he narrates both in one word.

לְעֶצְיֽוֹן־lə·‘eṣ·yō·wn-vvvH6100

√ ʻEtsyôwn Geber — Etsjon-Geber, a place on the Red SeaPreposition

גֶּ֧בֶרge·ḇerto Ezion-geberH6100

√ ʻEtsyôwn Geber — Etsjon-Geber, a place on the Red SeaPrepositionNounproperfeminine singular

ʻEtsyôwn Geber: Etsjon-Geber, a place on the Red Sea Rare: 7 verses. The Verifier records it as the lexeme shared with Deuteronomy 2:8, where Israel passed by Elath and Ezion-geber on the march, and with 1 Kings 22:48, where Jehoshaphat's Ophir fleet was wrecked there. Both links are recorded in the threads below.

וְאֶל־wə·’el-and toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongConjunctive wawPreposition

אֵיל֛וֹת’ê·lō·wṯElothH359

√ ʼÊylôwth — Eloth or Elath, a place on the Red SeaNounproperfeminine singular

ʼÊylôwth: Eloth or Elath, a place on the Red Sea Rare: 6 verses. JFB identify it with modern Akaba and Ezion-geber with El Gudyan, citing Robinson; Cambridge is careful that the water is "strictly speaking" the Gulf of Akaba, the eastern arm of the Red Sea.

עַל־‘al-onH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

שְׂפַ֥תśə·p̄aṯthe coastH8193

√ sâphâh — the lip (as a natural boundary)Nounfeminine singular construct

sâphâh: the lip (as a natural boundary) A shoreline named as a lip. ⚙ The unit's geography began at a qêts, an extremity of time, and ends at a sâphâh, an extremity of land.

הַיָּ֖םhay·yām. . .H3220

√ yâm — a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of waterArticleNounmasculine singular

בְּאֶ֥רֶץbə·’e·reṣ. . .H776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

אֱדֽוֹם׃’ĕ·ḏō·wmof EdomH123

√ ʼĔdôm — Edom, the elder twin-brother of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

ʼĔdôm: Edom, the elder twin-brother of Jacob Strong's gloss keeps the genealogy in view. The port is in Edomite territory, and Pulpit supplies the reason it is available: "David's conquest of Edom was the occasion of its coming into the possession of Israel."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Then Solomon went to-Ezion-Geber and-to-Eloth, upon the-lip-of the-sea, in-the-land-of Edom.

Where the English smooths the original

שְׂפַ֥ת שְׂפַ֥ת (śə·p̄aṯ, H8193 sâphâh) is "the lip (as a natural boundary)." BSB reads "the coast." The Hebrew calls a shoreline a lip, the same word it uses for the rim of a vessel and for human speech; the metaphor is of an edge where one thing stops.
הַיָּ֖ם הַיָּ֖ם (hay·yām, H3220 yâm) is "a sea (as breaking in noisy surf)." The Hebrew here says only "the sea." Ellicott notes that "Kings, the Red Sea. So Vulg.", and BSB at 1 Kings 9:26 reads "on the shore of the Red Sea"; Geneva glosses our verse "Meaning, the Red Sea." The identification is supplied, not stated.
הָלַ֨ךְ הָלַ֨ךְ (hā·laḵ, H1980) is the plain "walk, go," in the perfect. BSB reads "went." Ellicott doubts the implication: "The words of our text do not necessarily imply a personal visit on the part of Solomon." 1 Kings 9:26 instead says Solomon "assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber," with no journey at all.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The natural interpretation of these words is that Huram had ships transported overland from the Phœnician coast to the Gulf of Akaba, a difficult but not impossible task.

Cambridge offers this reading and then abandons it in the same note, concluding that "Probably the text of Chron. should be corrected here from the text of Kings." Both halves of that hesitation belong in the record.

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The difference may be due to a scribe’s error, the letter kaf being confused with nun.

A palaeographic conjecture, not manuscript evidence. Ellicott offers a comparable conjecture for the 250 of v. 10, and the flagged thread below records that neither has been verified here.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

It is still quite an unsettled question, however, where Ophir was situated, though an Arabian situation is on every account the most probable

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Grace, and not gold, is the best riches, and acquaintance with God and his law, the best knowledge.

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So Hiram sent him ships captained by his servants, along with crews of experienced sailors. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and acquired from there 450 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ḥū·rām way·yiš·laḥ- lōw ʾō·nī·yōṯ bə·yaḏ- ‘ă·ḇā·ḏāw wa·‘ă·ḇā·ḏîm yō·wḏ·‘ê yām way·yā·ḇō·’ū ‘im- šə·lō·mōh ‘aḇ·ḏê ’ō·w·p̄î·rāh way·yiq·ḥū miš·šām ’ar·ba‘- mê·’ō·wṯ wa·ḥă·miš·šîm kik·kar zā·hāḇ way·yā·ḇî·’ū ’el- ham·me·leḵ šə·lō·mōh

Word by word25 · parsed

חוּרָ֨םḥū·rāmSo HiramH2361

√ Chûwrâm — Churam, the name of an Israelite and two SyriansNounpropermasculine singular

Chûwrâm: Churam The unit opened and closes with Huram: cities in v. 2, ships here. ⚙ Two transactions with Tyre frame the chapter, and both of them are textually disputed against 1 Kings 9.

וַיִּֽשְׁלַֽח־way·yiš·laḥ-sentH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

לוֹ֩lōwhim

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

אוֹנִיּוֹתʾō·nī·yōṯshipsH591

√ ʼŏnîyâh — a shipNounfeminine plural

ʼŏnîyâh: a ship Recorded by the Verifier as the lexeme shared with 1 Kings 22:48, where the next Ophir fleet out of this port is wrecked. Note the interlinear surface here is unpointed, ʾō·nī·yōṯ, a plural.

בְּיַד־bə·yaḏ-captained byH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

yâd: a hand (the open one, indicating power, means, direction) The pivot of the v. 18 problem. Everything the commentators dispute about whether Tyrian hulls crossed a desert turns on how much agency this preposition carries.

עֲבָדָ֜יו‘ă·ḇā·ḏāwhis servantsH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

וַעֲבָדִים֮wa·‘ă·ḇā·ḏîmalong with crewsH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

י֣וֹדְעֵיyō·wḏ·‘êof experienced sailorsH3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

yâdaʻ: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing) Knowledge by sight, so seamanship learned on the water. ⚙ The Chronicler's last word about foreign help is not gold but competence: Israel had the port and the gold's destination, Tyre had the men who knew the sea.

יָם֒yām. . .H3220

√ yâm — a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of waterNounmasculine singular

וַיָּבֹ֜אוּway·yā·ḇō·’ūThey wentH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

עִם־‘im-withH5973

√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition

שְׁלֹמֹה֙šə·lō·mōhSolomon’sH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

עַבְדֵ֤י‘aḇ·ḏêservantsH5650

√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural construct

אוֹפִ֔ירָה’ō·w·p̄î·rāhto OphirH211

√ ʼÔwphîyr — Ophir, the name of a son of Joktan, and of a gold region in the EastNounproperfeminine singularthird person feminine singular

ʼÔwphîyr: Ophir, the name of a son of Joktan, and of a gold region in the East Strong's keeps both the man and the place. Where the place was, none of the twelve commentators will finally say: Pulpit calls it "still quite an unsettled question," Cambridge canvasses India, Africa and Arabia and prefers Arabia on the strength of Genesis 10:29, K&D conclude for Southern Arabia.

וַיִּקְח֣וּway·yiq·ḥūand acquiredH3947

√ lâqach — to take (in the widest variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

מִשָּׁ֔םmiš·šāmfrom thereH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenPreposition-mAdverb

אַרְבַּע־’ar·ba‘-450 {}H702

√ ʼarbaʻ — fourNumberfeminine singular

מֵא֥וֹתmê·’ō·wṯ. . .H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

וַחֲמִשִּׁ֖יםwa·ḥă·miš·šîm. . .H2572

√ chămishshîym — fiftyConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural

כִּכַּ֣רkik·kartalentsH3603

√ kikkâr — a circle, iNounfeminine singular construct

זָהָ֑בzā·hāḇof goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

zâhâb: gold, figuratively, something gold-colored The last commodity in the unit. Geneva converts the 450 talents to 3,600,000 crowns; Henry refuses the conversion and says "Grace, and not gold, is the best riches." ⚙ The Chronicler ends the chapter with the gold delivered and no comment at all, which is itself worth noticing after the word šālêm two verses earlier.

וַיָּבִ֖יאוּway·yā·ḇî·’ūwhich they deliveredH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

הַמֶּ֥לֶךְham·me·leḵKingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃פšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Huram sent to-him ships by-the-hand-of his-servants, and-servants knowing the-sea; and-they-came with the-servants-of-Solomon to-Ophir-ward and-took from-there four hundred and-fifty talents-of gold, and-brought them to the-king Solomon.

Where the English smooths the original

בְּיַד־ בְּיַד־ (bə·yaḏ, H3027 yâd) is "by the hand of," and Strong's notes the noun indicates "power, means, direction." BSB reads "captained by." The idiom means "by the agency of," and it is precisely this phrase that generates the whole dispute: Cambridge reads it as ships conveyed by servants, Ellicott concludes that "'ships and servants' means 'ships with servants,' or 'ships conveying servants.'"
י֣וֹדְעֵי י֣וֹדְעֵי (yō·wḏ·ʻê, H3045 yâdaʻ, Qal participle construct) is "knowers of the sea," and Strong's root sense is "to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)." BSB reads "experienced sailors." 1 Kings 9:27 has the same idiom, "sailors who knew the sea." Henry's comment turns on exactly this word: Israel "must be beholden to the king of Tyre for men that had knowledge of the seas."
אַרְבַּע־מֵא֥וֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁ֖ים אַרְבַּע־מֵא֥וֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁ֖ים is 450 talents. 1 Kings 9:28 reads 420, which BSB gives as "420 talents." Ellicott proposes a confusion of kaf and nun; Barnes says one of the two texts "has suffered from that corruption to which numbers are so especially liable"; Cambridge notes the LXX of Chronicles agrees with 450. Flagged below.
אוֹפִ֔ירָה אוֹפִ֔ירָה (ʼō·w·p̄î·rāh, H211) carries the directive he: Ophir-ward, toward Ophir. BSB reads "to Ophir." Cambridge notes the LXX usually writes the name with an initial S, Sophir, and hopes "This form may one day help to identify the place."

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Twenty years, and the arithmetic that will not close — vv. 1, 16

The unit opens on a boundary: וַיְהִ֞י מִקֵּ֣ץ (way·hî miq·qêṣ), "and it came to pass from the end of twenty year." Qêts (H7093) is an extremity, a cut-off, not a span, so the Chronicler begins by standing at a terminus and looking back. Ellicott records that the verb "is identical with 1Kings 9:10 , slightly abbreviated," and reckons the twenty years "from the fourth year of the reign": seven for the Temple, thirteen for the palace. K&D reckon the same total but from a different starting line, "from the commencement of the building of the temple." The Pulpit Commentary counts the four years before the foundation as well, reaches twenty-four, and still insists the description is "chronologically exact." Geneva's marginal gloss flattens all of it: he was twenty years in building them. Cambridge simply points at 1 Kings 6:38 and 7:1 and stops. ⚙ Four readings of one number, and the commentators are not arguing about the text but about what a round figure in Chronicles is for. Our judgement is that the twenty is a summary of periods and not an audited total, which is why v. 16 can close the same account with a word about order rather than a date.

ii. The cities that changed hands, and the city that may not exist — vv. 2 to 6

Verse 2 says Huram gave cities to Solomon. 1 Kings 9:11 says Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram, who "was not pleased with them" and named them the Land of Cabul. This is the sharpest divergence in the unit and the commentators divide along a clean line. Ellicott states the problem without flinching, that the parallel "records a contrary transaction," then follows Josephus (Antt. viii. 5, § 3): Huram returned the despised cities, Solomon repaired them, and the Chronicler "has omitted to notice a fact which seems to derogate from the greatness of Solomon." Ellicott's verdict is that Chronicles "replaces the older text by another statement which is equally true, and not incompatible with it." Poole, Gill, Benson and Geneva all take the same road: Hiram "here returns them to him again," and Geneva adds the name Cabul, "that is, dirt or filth." JFB add that the cities were within the promised land yet "had never been conquered." Cambridge refuses the harmonization outright: "Probably however Kin. and Chron. follow different traditions with regard to these border cities, and no reconciliation is possible." The Pulpit Commentary occupies the middle, reconstructing border cities in poor repair and unvalued by Hiram. ⚙ We do not settle it. Ellicott's reading requires reading a gift into a text about a gift returned; Cambridge's requires accepting two traditions in one canon. Both are honest, and the Hebrew nâthan (H5414), "gave," is doing nothing to decide between them. Tadmor in v. 4 divides the same commentators the same way: Ellicott has local tradition making Solomon the founder of Palmyra, Gill has an Arabic chronicler, and Cambridge has a thousand years of silence plus the Kethiv "Tamar" of 1 Kings 9:18, where BSB prints "Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah." Pulpit answers from context that Hamath "best suits Tadmor." Meanwhile the building vocabulary is worth hearing as vocabulary: miçkᵉnâh (H4543), a magazine, rare at 7 verses; mâtsôwr (H4692), a city built for a siege; and at the centre of v. 6 the rare noun chêsheq (H2837), delight, with its cognate verb châshaq (H2836), to cling. Solomon's desire is itemized in the list beside the chariot cities.

iii. The levy, the remnant, and the numbers that do not agree — vv. 7 to 10

The Chronicler names the five surviving peoples, calls them הַנּוֹתָ֨ר (han·nō·w·ṯār, Nifal participle of yâthar, H3498, "to jut over or exceed"), the left-over, and raises them לְמַ֔ס (lə·mas, H4522), "for burden." Strong's gloss for maç is exact and hard: "properly, a burden (as causing to faint)." The Pulpit Commentary reads the verses as a confession the compiler could not drop, saying they "betray how it was a thing never to be forgotten, if only as a fact, that the extermination of the old possessors of the land had not been entire." JFB put the Canaanites' side plainly, "treated as war prisoners," and the Israelites' side as employment "in no works but such as were of an honorable character." Cambridge will not let that stand as a compliment: reading v. 9 with 1 Kings 5:13 and 12:4, "though Solomon did not actually reduce any Israelite to permanent slavery, yet he imposed upon his own people a corvée which was felt to be very burdensome." Ellicott supplies the sharpest external light, from Diodorus Siculus, that Sesostris inscribed over his temples, "No native hath laboured hereon" (Ellicott's citation is Diod. Sic. i. 56, and we have not verified the classical reference). Then the numbers break. Chronicles has 250 chief officers; 1 Kings 9:23 has 550. JFB: "It is generally agreed that the text of one of these passages is corrupt." Ellicott follows Kennicott in a scribal confusion of two Hebrew letters. Geneva harmonizes by scope, "For in all there were 3300 but here he means of them who had the principal charge." Cambridge harmonizes by addition, noting that 2 Chronicles 2:18 has 3,600 under-overseers against 1 Kings 5:16's 3,300, so that "The total number therefore of overseers of all kinds is given both in 1 Kin. and 2 Chr. as 3850." K&D harmonize by category, that the 550 includes Canaanite overseers and the 250 does not. ⚙ Four different repairs to one seam. We record all four and adopt none; the flagged thread below carries the uncertainty rather than hiding it in a footnote.

iv. A wife moved out, offerings brought up, and a house called whole — vv. 11 to 16

Verse 11 turns on one Hifil: הֶעֱלָ֤ה (he·ʻĕ·lāh, H5927 ʻâlâh), "he caused to go up." The same causative raised the Canaanite remnant to forced labor in v. 8 and will raise burnt offerings in v. 12. Solomon brings his Egyptian wife up out of the city of David because, he says, קֹ֣דֶשׁ (qō·ḏeš, H6944) attaches to the places the ark has entered. Ellicott notes that this reason "is wanting in the other text, and is characteristic of the chronicler both in thought and language," and that the plural hēmmāh works as a neuter singular in his usage; Cambridge renders the vow "No wife of mine shall dwell." On the reason itself, JFB say Solomon "felt that she being a heathen proselyte," with heathen maid-servants from her own country, could not be housed where the ark had been. Benson agrees and is careful: "though Pharaoh's daughter was proselyted to the Jewish religion, and had renounced idolatry, it is not likely that both she and all her servants had embraced the whole law of Moses." Poole refuses to let the principle over-generalize, since on a broad reading the house of Obed-edom would be uninhabitable too, and offers two narrower explanations instead. Matthew Henry moves it from architecture to marriage: "It sometimes requires more wisdom and resolution to govern a family in the fear of God, than to govern a kingdom with reputation." Then the worship. Cambridge notices what Chronicles has changed: 1 Kings 9:25 has Solomon burning incense, and "Such an act, according to the Chronicler, was of the nature of trespass," punished in Uzziah with leprosy, "and was therefore not to be attributed to such a king as Solomon." Maclaren, preaching on vv. 12 to 13, names the three marks of the ritual, "precise compliance with the Divine commandment, unbroken continuity, and beautiful flexibility and variety of method," and then turns the day-by-day formula into counsel: be content to take your work in little bits as it comes. Benson notes that Solomon, "though a wise and great man, and the builder of the temple, did not attempt to amend, alter, or add to, what the man of God had commanded in God's name," and Barnes observes that the title "man of God" is "rare in Chronicles," used of Moses, David, and one other prophet. Then v. 16 closes the account with שָׁלֵ֖ם (šā·lêm, H8003), whole, the root of shalom and of Solomon's own name. K&D press the word: it "does not signify 'ended,' or to be at an end, but to be set thoroughly (perfectly) in order," and so the house was only whole "when the regular worship according to the law of Moses" had begun. Henry says the same thing in one line: "The work was the main matter, not the place; the temple was unfinished till all this was done."

v. Eloth, Ophir, and the gold that came back — vv. 17 to 18

Solomon goes to Ezion-geber and Eloth עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיָּ֖ם (ʻal śə·p̄aṯ hay·yām), "upon the lip of the sea": sâphâh (H8193) is "the lip (as a natural boundary)," and the Hebrew here does not say Red Sea, though 1 Kings 9:26 does and Geneva glosses it so. Ellicott doubts a royal visit at all: "The words of our text do not necessarily imply a personal visit on the part of Solomon. He sent his shipwrights to the Idumean port." JFB read policy into it, that Solomon "was sagacious enough to perceive that his kingdom could become great and glorious only by encouraging a spirit of commercial enterprise among his subjects." Verse 18 then raises two problems the commentators face squarely. First, how Tyrian ships reached a Red Sea port. Cambridge takes the words at face value, ships "transported overland from the Phœnician coast to the Gulf of Akaba, a difficult but not impossible task," and then concedes that "Probably the text of Chron. should be corrected here from the text of Kings." Barnes proposes delivery at Joppa and Phoenician-assisted shipbuilding at Ezion-geber; Ellicott canvasses overland transport and even circumnavigation before concluding that "ships and servants" means "ships with servants." Pulpit calls the parallel the solution and the rest "farfetched." Second, the gold: 450 talents here, 420 at 1 Kings 9:28. Ellicott offers a scribal confusion of kaf and nun; Barnes says "One or other of the two texts has suffered from that corruption to which numbers are so especially liable"; Geneva quietly converts to crowns and notes the surplus of thirty. Where Ophir was, nobody in this brief claims to know: Pulpit calls it "still quite an unsettled question," Cambridge lists India, Africa and Arabia and prefers Arabia, K&D conclude for Southern Arabia. Henry ends the chapter where Chronicles does not: "Grace, and not gold, is the best riches, and acquaintance with God and his law, the best knowledge."

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. Chapter 8 is a ledger, and it is honest about what a ledger can and cannot record. Eight times in eighteen verses the verb is bânâh (H1129), built. What gets built is a wall, a pair of door-leaves, one bolt, depots for munitions, cities for chariots, a house for a wife, and an altar. Two words tell the reader how to weigh the pile. The first is chêsheq (H2837), delight, a noun so rare it occurs in four verses, sitting in v. 6 between the chariot cities and the building programme with its cognate verb châshaq, to cling: what Solomon clung to is entered in the inventory as though it were itself a city. The second is šālêm (H8003), whole, in v. 16, the root of shalom and of the king's own name. And the Chronicler will not apply that word to the masonry. He applies it after the divisions of the priests are standing, the Levites are at their watches, the gatekeepers are at gate and gate, and the daily rate of offering is running. K&D and Matthew Henry both saw this; we think the grammar makes it unavoidable. Put those two words side by side and the chapter reads as a quiet double account. The same Hifil of ʻâlâh, to cause to go up, raises a conquered remnant to forced labor in v. 8, raises an Egyptian princess out of David's house in v. 11, and raises offerings to the LORD in v. 12. One verb, three ascents, and only the third is worship. Solomon can compute holiness as a zoning question, moving a wife out of a house the ark has touched, and in the same paragraph compute a foreign people as a burden, maç, "as causing to faint." ⚙ Our reading is that the Chronicler is not congratulating Solomon here; he is showing what a whole house costs to keep and who paid, and leaving the reader to notice that the accounts balance in gold and do not balance in people. What he says about the one thing he calls whole is the only verdict he pronounces.

The house was not called whole when the last stone was set, but when the singing started.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The cities Huram gave, or the cities Solomon gave: one transaction, two texts structural / thematic: confirmed

2 Chronicles 8:2 has Huram giving cities to Solomon, who builds them and settles Israelites there. 1 Kings 9:11 to 13 has the traffic running the other way: Solomon gives twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram in return for cedar, cypress and gold; Hiram inspects them, "he was not pleased with them," and names them the Land of Cabul. The Verifier's recorded basis for the link is the shared lexeme set H1129 bânâh and H8010 Shᵉlômôh, both common, so the connection is the parallel narrative itself and not any verbal allusion. Ellicott, Poole, Gill, Benson and Geneva harmonize by way of Josephus: Hiram returned the cities and Solomon repaired them, and the Chronicler "has omitted to notice a fact which seems to derogate from the greatness of Solomon." Cambridge denies that any reconciliation is possible and reads two traditions. JFB add that the towns lay inside the promised land but "had never been conquered." ⚙ We record both positions and settle neither: the Hebrew verb in Chronicles is simply nâthan, gave, and the Authorised Version's "restored" is already a harmonization in the translation.

1 Kings 9:11 · 1 Kings 9:12 · 1 Kings 9:13 · 1 Kings 9:19

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1129 bânâh (in 344 vv) and H8010 Shᵉlômôh (in 263 vv) against 1 Kings 9:19, both common, so the recorded basis is a parallel-account link and not a quotation; the divergence over who gave the cities is textual and remains open between Ellicott (with Josephus) and Cambridge

The foundation laid: a word used twice in the Hebrew Bible verbal / quotation: confirmed

Verse 16 dates Solomon's work from מוּסַ֥ד (mū·saḏ, H4143 mûwçâd), "a foundation." The Verifier records this noun in only two verses of the Hebrew Bible. The other is Isaiah 28:16, where the LORD says, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken." The link is lexical and it is as tight as a Hebrew lexical link can be: two occurrences, both of a foundation laid for something that will stand. It is not a quotation and neither text cites the other. Ellicott and Cambridge are both unsettled about the clause in which the word sits: the Hebrew reads "unto that day of the foundation," all the versions read "from," and Cambridge prefers the shorter LXX text as "probably right." ⚙ Our observation is only this: the Chronicler's one word for the temple's foundation is the word Isaiah uses for a foundation that is not masonry at all.

Isaiah 28:16

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H4143 mûwçâd, present in only 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles 8:16 and Isaiah 28:16). A genuinely rare shared lexeme, which is what the tier records; it is a lexical link, not a citation, and neither text quotes the other

Store cities and taskmasters: Solomon's vocabulary is Pharaoh's verbal / quotation: confirmed

מִסְכְּנוֹת (miskᵉnôt, H4543), depots or magazines, is rare: 7 verses in the Hebrew Bible. Two of them are 2 Chronicles 8:4 and 8:6, where Solomon builds store cities and levies the Canaanite remnant lᵉmas, for burden. Another is Exodus 1:11, where BSB reads, "So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh." The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes H4543 miçkᵉnâh (7 verses), H1129 bânâh and H5892 ʻîyr. The Chronicler does not draw the comparison. ⚙ We note that the three elements of Exodus 1:11 (a conscripted people, overseers set over them, store cities as the product) are all three present in 2 Chronicles 8:4 to 10, and that 250 men are said to be hārōḏîm, "treading" among the people, from râdâh (H7287), "to tread down." Cambridge, reading v. 9 with 1 Kings 5:13 and 12:4, already grants that Solomon's corvée "was felt to be very burdensome" by Israel itself.

Exodus 1:11 · 2 Chronicles 32:28

basis: Verifier pair check on 2 Chronicles 8:4 and Exodus 1:11: shared lexemes H4543 miçkᵉnâh (in 7 vv, rare), H1129 bânâh (in 344 vv), H5892 ʻîyr (in 937 vv). The rare lexeme H4543 carries the tier; the link is lexical and motif-level, not a quotation, and the Chronicler makes no allusion claim

Ezion-geber and Eloth: a wilderness waypoint becomes a seaport structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 17 has Solomon going to ʻEtsyôwn Geber (H6100, 7 verses) and ʼÊylôwth (H359, 6 verses), on the lip of the sea in the land of Edom. Both names are rare, and both stand together in Deuteronomy 2:8, where BSB reads, "We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab." The Verifier records H4057 midbâr, H359 and H6100 as the shared lexemes. ⚙ The same two places are a point Israel walked past on the way to a land it did not yet have, and a port from which Solomon's gold came in. We tier this structural rather than verbal deliberately: the shared words are place names, and geography repeating itself is not an allusion. Pulpit adds the hinge Chronicles leaves implicit, that "David's conquest of Edom was the occasion of its coming into the possession of Israel."

Deuteronomy 2:8

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H359 ʼÊylôwth (in 6 vv) and H6100 ʻEtsyôwn Geber (in 7 vv), plus H4057 midbâr (in 257 vv). The rare lexemes would permit a verbal tier, but they are proper place names, so we under-claim: shared geography, not shared wording

The next fleet at the same harbour, and what happened to it structural / thematic: confirmed

Solomon's Ophir voyage out of Ezion-geber brought back 450 talents of gold. The next Judahite king to try the same route from the same port is Jehoshaphat, and 1 Kings 22:48 records the result: "Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber." The Verifier records the shared lexemes H6100 ʻEtsyôwn Geber (7 verses), H591 ʼŏnîyâh (28 verses) and H2091 zâhâb. ⚙ Chronicles itself will take that story up at 2 Chronicles 20:36 to 37 and give it a prophetic explanation; here in chapter 8 there is no explanation at all, only the gold arriving. Where Ophir was, none of the commentators in this unit will say: Pulpit calls it "still quite an unsettled question," Cambridge prefers Arabia, K&D conclude for Southern Arabia.

1 Kings 22:48

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6100 ʻEtsyôwn Geber (in 7 vv), H591 ʼŏnîyâh (in 28 vv), H2091 zâhâb (in 336 vv). A shared port, a shared object (an Ophir gold voyage) and shared vocabulary within one motif; no quotation is claimed in either direction

250 or 550, 450 or 420: the numbers the commentators cannot settle flagged: verify source

Three counts in this unit disagree with their parallels. v. 10 has 250 chief officers where 1 Kings 9:23 has 550. v. 18 has 450 talents of gold where 1 Kings 9:28 has 420. And 2 Chronicles 2:18 has 3,600 under-overseers where 1 Kings 5:16 has 3,300. The commentators offer four incompatible repairs. JFB, twice: "It is generally agreed that the text of one of these passages is corrupt." Ellicott proposes scribal confusions of Hebrew letters in both places, citing Kennicott for the 550 and a kaf-for-nun confusion for the gold. Barnes: "One or other of the two texts has suffered from that corruption to which numbers are so especially liable." Geneva harmonizes by scope, that Chronicles counts only "them who had the principal charge." Cambridge harmonizes by addition, making the total of overseers 3,850 in both books. K&D harmonize by category, that 550 counts Israelite and Canaanite overseers together and 250 counts only Israelites. ⚙ We flag rather than choose. No manuscript evidence is offered for any of the conjectures in this brief, Kennicott's included, and we have not verified them; a stated gap is worth more here than a tidy number.

1 Kings 9:23 · 1 Kings 9:28 · 1 Kings 5:16

basis: No shared-lexeme claim is made: these are numerical divergences between parallel accounts. The proposed solutions rest on unverified conjecture (Ellicott citing Kennicott on 550 for 250, and a kaf/nun confusion for 450 against 420) and on harmonizations that contradict one another (Geneva by scope, Cambridge by addition, K&D by category). Flagged pending manuscript verification we have not performed

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

A house called whole, and a temple raised in three days ancient/widely-held

⚙ The Chronicler withholds the word šālêm (H8003), whole, until the worship is running, and K&D insist the word "does not signify 'ended,' or to be at an end, but to be set thoroughly (perfectly) in order." Matthew Henry drew the same conclusion from the same verse: "The work was the main matter, not the place; the temple was unfinished till all this was done." The New Testament takes that distinction between the building and the worship and relocates it. At John 2:19 to 21 Jesus says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again," and the evangelist explains, "But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body." Hebrews 3:3 to 6 sets the same ordering of house and builder: "For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself," and then "Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house." Ephesians 2:21 completes the figure: "In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord." This is the apostolic reading, not ours; what is ours is the observation that 2 Chronicles 8:16 already declines to call finished masonry a finished house. No commentator in this unit's brief draws the connection, and we do not pretend otherwise.

John 2:19 · John 2:21 · Hebrews 3:3 · Hebrews 3:6 · Ephesians 2:21

One greater than Solomon, and the gold that came the other way ancient/widely-held

⚙ Chapter 8 ends with gold arriving: 450 talents out of Ophir into the hand of King Solomon. Matthew 12:42 turns that traffic around. "The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here." That is the Lord's own comparison, so the Solomon-to-Christ reading is ancient and widely held on His authority, not on ours. At Matthew 2:11 the treasures are opened in the other direction, gold presented rather than collected, and at Revelation 21:24 to 26 the kings of the earth "bring their glory" into a city that needs no store cities and no bolt. Isaiah 60:11 has said the same: "Your gates will always stand open; they will never be shut, day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you." Compare the doors and the single bar of 2 Chronicles 8:5. Matthew Henry, on this chapter, reads the gold in the same direction without naming the city: "Grace, and not gold, is the best riches, and acquaintance with God and his law, the best knowledge." ⚙ The specific pairing of Solomon's Ophir gold with the tribute of Revelation 21 is our reading; the greater-than-Solomon judgement is Christ's.

Matthew 12:42 · Matthew 2:11 · Revelation 21:24 · Revelation 21:26 · Isaiah 60:11

The remnant conscripted, and the wall taken down novel

⚙ Verses 7 to 8 list five peoples, calls them the left-over, han·nō·w·ṯār from yâthar (H3498), and raises them for burden, maç, a word Strong's glosses "a burden (as causing to faint)." Verse 11 then moves an Egyptian wife out of a house because holiness attaches to places the ark has entered. Whatever Solomon's motive, and Benson, JFB and Poole each read it differently, the practical shape of the chapter is a graded people: Israelites as officers, the remnant as labor, a foreign wife housed apart. Ephesians 2:14 addresses that exact shape: "For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility," and v. 21 puts both parties inside the building rather than one of them under it. Revelation 21:27 keeps a real exclusion, "nothing unclean will ever enter it," but the criterion is no longer ancestry: "only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." ⚙ We mark this novel. The apostolic texts are plain, but reading them specifically against 2 Chronicles 8:7 to 11 is our own construction; none of the twelve commentators in this brief makes it, and the Chronicler passes no judgement on the levy at all.

Ephesians 2:14 · Ephesians 2:21 · Revelation 21:27

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. The base text is the Berean Standard Bible (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers; every parse, gloss and lexeme frequency cited above comes from that apparatus and not from our judgement. Every quotation of Scripture outside this pericope has been checked word for word against the BSB text in data/raw/bsb.txt.

Sources. Twelve public-domain commentators are quoted verbatim and by name: Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit, K&D, Poole and Maclaren. Excerpts are copied out of the source text by code from anchors, not retyped, so no quotation here has been paraphrased, modernized or stitched. Henry's entry is a single block on 8:1 to 18 and is therefore quoted at whichever verse it bears on; Maclaren's is a sermon on 8:12 to 13 and is capped in our source, so we have quoted only from the portion in hand. The Pulpit Commentary text as digitized reads "Solomen" at v. 6; we quote the misprint rather than correct it silently.

What is uncertain in this unit. Four things, and none of them is settled here. (1) Who gave the cities of v. 2. Ellicott, Poole, Gill, Benson and Geneva follow Josephus and harmonize with 1 Kings 9:11 to 13; Cambridge holds that "no reconciliation is possible"; Pulpit reconstructs a middle case. We record the positions and leave the divergence open. (2) Whether the Tadmor of v. 4 is Palmyra. Ellicott and Gill report tradition for it, Cambridge argues against it from the Kethiv "Tamar" of 1 Kings 9:18 and from a millennium of silence, Pulpit argues for it from context. (3) The numbers: 250 against 550, 450 against 420, 3,600 against 3,300. The flagged thread above lists four incompatible solutions, all of them conjectural; we have verified none of the manuscript claims, Kennicott's included. (4) How Tyrian ships reached the Gulf of Akaba in v. 18: overland transport (Cambridge, with Ellicott canvassing it), delivery at Joppa with shipbuilding on site (Barnes, Ellicott's preferred reading), or correction of the Chronicles text from Kings (Cambridge's own fallback, and Pulpit's).

What is ours. Everything marked ⚙, including the sola reading, the pull quote and the third Christ entry, is machine synthesis and fallible. The pull quote is not a verse and is not a quotation from any commentator; it is our own interpretive line. Ellicott's citation of Diodorus Siculus i. 56 and of Josephus, Antt. viii. 5, § 3, and Gill's citation of Abulpharagius, are reported as Ellicott and Gill give them; we have not consulted those sources.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)