2 Chronicles 2:17

Study note

Setting — Solomon administers the temple project following Hiram’s messenger’s timber promise and before assigning specific labor quotas. The narrative records his administrative action to quantify the foreign population residing in Israel.

The words — The verb וַ/יִּסְפֹּ֣ר (va/i.yis.Por) literally means “and he counted,” and the noun הַ/גֵּירִים (ha./gei.Rim) denotes “the sojourners” or foreign residents. These terms anchor the verse’s focus on a systematic census of non-Israelite inhabitants.

The thread — This administrative census parallels 1 Chronicles 22:2, where David gathers foreigners for temple work, and 1 Kings 9:20, which identifies them as the remaining Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The conscription effort aligns with 1 Kings 5:13, which records Solomon drafting 30,000 men from Israel proper.

Why it lands — The text states that Solomon recorded 153,600 foreign men in the land after David’s earlier census. It requires the reader to recognize the scale of organized labor behind the temple project and the administrative continuity between David’s preparations and Solomon’s execution.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.