2 Chronicles 8:14

8:14 As his father David had decreed, Solomon ¹  appointed the divisions of the priests to do their assigned tasks, the Levitical orders to lead worship and help the priests with their daily tasks, ²  and the divisions of the gatekeepers to serve at their assigned gates. ³  This was what David the man of God had ordered. ⁴ 

2 Chronicles 13:9

13:9 But you banished ⁵  the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods! ⁶ 

2 Chronicles 33:6

33:6 He passed his sons through the fire ⁷  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. ⁸  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. ⁹ 

2 Chronicles 36:23

36:23 It read: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: ‘The Lord God of the heavens has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build for him a temple in Jerusalem ¹⁰  in Judah. May the Lord your God energize you who belong to his people, so you may be able to go back there!” ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Solomon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “and the Levites, according to their posts, to praise and to serve opposite the priests according to the matter of a day in its day.”

³ tn Heb “and the gatekeepers by their divisions for a gate and a gate.”

⁴ tn Heb “for so [was] the command of David the man of God.”

⁵ tn In the Hebrew text this is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Did you not banish?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you did,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “But you banished.”

⁶ tn Heb “whoever comes to fill his hand with a bull of a son of cattle, and seven rams, and he is a priest to no-gods.”

⁷ tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

⁸ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

⁹ tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

¹⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹¹ tn Heb “Whoever [is] among you from all his people – may the Lord his God [be] with him so that he may go up.”